Jongin and Naeun indeed find the highest building within the city; a slim broadcasting station, thirteen floors high. The brick walls are steady and inside are suitable living conditions, with a few rooms that hold bunk beds, surely for the overworking population.

Kyungsoo has large eyes, Baekhyun is the blonde, and Chorong is the girl. They’ve lived in the town since they were children and have been friends ever since.

“Is it bad here?” Naeun asks, eyes ghosting over the three figures. 

“I don’t imagine it any better anywhere else. It’s probably the same,” Baekhyun replies. His eyes are downcast, staring at the gun by his feet. 

They are in one of the innermost conference rooms on the sixth floor. Needing a quick way out through the fire escape, but wanting to be high enough so the beasts couldn’t reach them, they decided that the sixth floor would suffice. 

The night is eerily cold, with a slight drizzle that seeps into Soojung’s bones. She huddles in a spare blanket by herself as does the others. Sulli leans back into Sehun’s chest as they share a larger fleece, and Kyungsoo and Chorong offer to share the other fleece, as they’re one blanket short.

Soojung doesn’t notice it at first, but, as the silence fills the room, she sees Kyungsoo holding Chorong’s hand in his, the back gently. She leans into him, watching the flames of the candles before her. She finally realizes after watching the two, that she’s seeing another couple.

“How long have you two dated?” Sulli’s voice slithers into the silence.

Kyungsoo and Chorong both look up at her and then a smile slips onto Kyungsoo’s rather full lips.

“Three years.”

“I couldn’t hold down a boyfriend for longer than two months,” Naeun replies with a chuckle. Chanyeol’s laugh grumbles.

“She’s telling the truth. And the sad part is: she’s always the one who gets dumped,” he breathes, cackling loudly. Naeun shoots him daggers, rolling her eyes and throwing a piece of the biscuit she’s eating, at him.

The conversation grows gradually afterwards between the two couples. Baekhyun chimes in with sassy remarks about Kyungsoo and Chorong’s relationship, while he grumbles about being the third wheel too many times. Then, the question directs toward Soojung.

“Did you have a boyfriend, Soojung?” Sulli asks out of pure curiosity. Soojung pauses for a moment and looks around the room. All eyes seem to be on her, even Jongin’s.

“No. I’ve never had a boyfriend,” she answers calmly, teeth latching to her bottom lip.

“No way,” Chanyeol responds with other remarks from the group.

Soojung has never been popular with the opposite , or even the same . She didn’t have many friends, and certainly not a boyfriend. She was the total opposite from her sister who was always with a boy and had boys following her around, even after she had started dating Kris.

“Don’t worry. All due in time, right?” Naeun grins at Soojung, bumping her shoulder playfully.

They assign watches quickly, and settle in to sleep. Soojung has first watch with Jongin. She sits close to the remaining candles with Jongin not far off to her right. His blanket falls loosely from one shoulder and there’s a vacant look in his eyes.

The silence in itself is comforting as Soojung watches the group sleep. Chanyeol, as always, is a heavy sleeper, and Naeun curls up in between him and Baekhyun. Sulli sleeps peacefully with her head on Sehun’s arm and Sehun buries his face in her hair. Kyungsoo and Chorong lay facing each other. It seems as though they had fallen asleep in the middle of a conversation, with their pinkies curled around each other. The sight is peaceful and it makes Soojung smile.

She only looks up when she feels something draping over her shoulders. She sees Jongin in the dim light, wrapping his blanket around her and then settling in beside her. 

“Thanks,” she mumbles. He doesn’t look at her, but nods his head in acknowledgement.

Soojung falls asleep minutes later, eyes closing over tired pupils. She dreams of her sister, sitting cross-legged on the couch with her laptop perched in her lap. Kris is beside her with his own laptop. Soojung looks up from her homework and finds Sooyeon and Kris whispering to each other, smiles forming naturally. It makes her cringe, and when Sooyeon sees her gaze, she immediately bursts into a fit of giggles.

“You’ll understand when you have a boyfriend, Soojung. Trust me, we’re not as bad as some people,” Sooyeon coos, shutting her laptop and grabbing Kris’s wrist, dragging him upstairs and into her room.

When Soojung wakes, her eyes are damp. A tear slips, and she catches her breath. She misses Sooyeon and no words or tears could ever explain how much it hurts. She lifts her head from what seems to be Jongin’s shoulder and lets another tear fall to her cheek. 

Drop after drop, her tears escalade. She’s sniffling, and trembling as flashes of Sooyeon’s smile and laugh rolls through her brain. Her father and mother both appear too, and soon she can’t control herself. She’s shaking uncontrollably, but she tries to keep her sobs in, clamping her teeth over her fist. 

A pair of arms encircle her, and she’s being pulled into Jongin’s chest. His breath is warm and steady on the top of her head, and it calms her slowly. 

“It’s okay, Soojung,” his voice is barely a whisper in her ear. 

She stays like that until the shaking has stopped and the tears have subsided. She shifts herself and curls up into Jongin’s side, not caring about the wetness on his shirt or his wide eyes, and stays there. It feels nice. His arms steady her spinning mind, and the heat of his body helps her regain her thoughts.

Her eyes grow heavy as Jongin holds her. She doesn’t remember falling asleep, but she does remember his voice before she blacks out.

“You’ll be okay, Soojung. We’ll be okay.”

Shouting. There’s shouting somewhere in her ears, and something is shaking her. A loud crash and the jerking sensation of her body finally throws her into consciousness. Jongin’s face is the first thing she sees. His eyes are panicked. 

“Soojung, get up. We’re being ambushed,” he voices.

She’s shaking Baekhyun awake, when the first round of shots is fired. She sees Jongin out in the office area with Chanyeol and Sehun. Each holds a large gun, firing at something in the distance. 

“Holy ,” Baekhyun curses when he finally realizes what’s going on. 

Soojung takes a hold of her gun and hands each Baekhyun, Chorong, and Kyungsoo a gun for themselves. She straps on Jongin’s bag and with Naeun’s help, they ease themselves outside. A large beast, the size of two desks, bares its teeth as Sehun’s bullet hits it right in the eye. It’s already blinded in one eye, and when Chanyeol lands a critical blow in the hind leg, the three turn and usher Soojung and Naeun into the fire escape. 

They’re down three flights of stairs when glass shatters above them and the beast from before is sailing into the air, falling into the pavement. It rises on its legs shakily, but seems unscathed. A shrieking, shrilling sound comes from the back of its throat and soon two more beasts, equal in size, join the first one. 

“Start shooting!” Sehun’s voice shouts over the commotion. 

Shots ring out through the night as they push down the fire escape. Soojung takes aim, shoots, misses, and starts down the stairs again. The bag on her back weighs her down, but she’s steady on her feet, taking aim and shooting, trying to remember Junmyeon’s training from a few days ago.

She’s the first one to touch ground, and Chanyeol follows behind her. He handles the beast advancing on them from the right as she helps Naeun and Chorong down from the ladder. Sehun helps Sulli down and jumps out next, joining Chanyeol and Naeun. 

A harsh tumbling noise comes from behind as the advancing beast finally goes slack. Soojung runs after Chanyeol. Behind, she sees Kyugnsoo and Jongin, and another large beast chasing after them.

A shrilling noise comes from ahead and Soojung sees another large beast fall to the ground, motionless with Sehun in the lead. She watches as he takes a right, heading in the direction of their SUV.

“Hurry! It’s closing in on us!” Kyungsoo’s voice comes, panicked, from behind. Soojung tries to pick up her pace, urging her legs to carry her further, but with no luck.

She’s almost at the end of the street when suddenly, a horrendous shriek sounds and something thuds to the ground. Soojung turns around to find Kyungsoo a few feet away from her, lying unconscious on the pavement with his shirt tattered and his blood soaking the ground.

Jongin jumps into action, running toward the beast and sinking his blade into the creature’s  throat. He jumps back just in time to avoid the beast’s claws, and fires a few times, blinding and ultimately killing it. 

Soojung’s hands shake as she looks for a way to pick Kyungsoo up. Three large claw marks run down his back which has loose flesh and fresh blood, pouring from the deep wounds.

“Jongin,” her voice also shakes. He’s beside her in a second, cursing profanities and kneeling beside him.

“Help him on my back. We’ve got to get to the others,” he speaks. His voice is ragged from the loss of breath and the air is murky with the smell of blood and the early morning fog. 

Soojung tries not to touch the wounds, but her hands are bloodied as soon as she wraps her arms around Kyungsoo’s limp body. She hauls him up and onto Jongin’s back, and somehow, the whole of her arms and shirt are stained with the boy’s blood.

She and Jongin just barely get to the end of the next street before the SUV pulls up. Naeun opens the door, and inside, Soojung can see the shocked eyes of her companions. 

As soon as they make enough room by sitting on the floor and in each other’s laps, Jongin tells Chanyeol to take back to the highway. It’s a relatively clear path to the large, cramped roads, but they manage to get there in one piece.

“What…” Chorong’s voice comes as tears streak her cheeks. 

“It was sudden. He told us that the monster was gaining…and then, he was down. I guess it just got too close,” Soojung tries to explain with a wavering voice. 

The large cuts on Kyungsoo’s back ooze blood, and Soojung can almost feel the pain in her own body. Kyungsoo pours sweat and his breathing is short and ragged, and even in his unconscious state, his face contorts, reminding Soojung of the blinding pain.

“We have to…get him to a doctor, or patch him up somehow. We can’t just…just sit here,” Chorong’s words come in spurts of panic as she tries to regain her breath. Her eyes are red and she’s suddenly shaking hard. 

Sehun pulls a slightly sickly Sulli into his chest as Baekhyun chews on the tips of his fingers, eyeing his friend wearily. Naeun sits somewhere between the seat and in Baekhyun’s lap, trying to work through the few life-saving things she’d learned in her brief stay at the nursing classes in her university.

“We’ll stop once it’s safe. We’ll treat Kyungsoo as best as we can. Don’t worry Chorong, he’ll be fine,” Soojung says. She’s surprised at her own words, but she’s trying to be strong for the girl before her.

Hello, all of my readers, and happy new year! As we all see the start of a new year, I decided I needed up update, because let's face it, it's been quite a while. But, thanks to all of you for keeping latched on and holding up with me, even though I think I probably would've abandoned ship long ago. But you guys and gals are all amazing and awesome, and again, thanks so much for still reading after such a long time. And I really hope that I can actually bring an end to this fic. (I have a habit of not finishing my stories) And I hope all of you will go along with me on this adventure! ^^

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