Chapter 29

Sage and Aisha had been wringing their hands around and around each other and pacing back and forth. Sage had been gnawing on their fingernails while Aisha chewed at her lips. It had almost been an hour since Luhan, Sehun and the others entered into the building and since the other members of EXO had moved all the girls far enough away from the building.

An enormous boom exploded from the factory. The explosion flung the group onto the ground; the smell of smoke, melting metal, and burning skin polluting the air. Sage and Aisha scrambled to their feet; desperately hoping to see the two men that meant the most them.

Gasps escaped all of the girls' mouths. Nebula and the half of Exo that stayed behind stared at the giant black cloud of smoke that filled the air, fire blazing in tangles of red and orange. The six members of EXO stood as straight as boards; their eyes searching for the rest of their team.

Clouds of the darkened smoke waffed about. Black puffs of ash fell from the ground, flittering gracefully to the ground as if ending a performance. “Are they…?” Eva softly whispered.

Baekhyun’s jaw clenched, a muscle began to jump. “No. No they aren’t….they can’t be…” He whispered the last part.

There were no signs of movement. Sage and Aisha could hear Chen muttering "c’mon, c’mon" under his breath. Samantha laid a gentle hand onto Aisha’s shoulder. She pulled Aisha into a feather soft embrace, smoothing down the tangled strands of her brunette hair.

Aisha didn’t feel her knees cave from under her or Kai wrapping an arm around her waist. She had shut down. All that she felt was a numbness that grew and grew into a blinding pain. Ragged sounds caught between a gasp and a sob left . Hot tears slid down her cheeks as she held onto the front of Samantha’s shirt. Her heart clenched so tightly she thought it would stop entirely as she swallowed lungfuls of the smoky air, coughing and gasping until was raw.

Eva held a shaking Sage as close to her as possible. No sounds escaped at the deafening pain she was feeling. It hurt for her to breathe. It was as if someone had placed a pillow over her face; her breathing felt constricted. Faint mumbles of ‘nonononono’ in Sage’s broken voice echoed into the silent atmosphere.

Scarlett helped Eva lower a broken Sage to the ground. Suho mumbled something into Eva’s ear that only she could hear. A grimace crossed her face followed by a quick nod in understanding. “We need get moving G…” She whispered in a strangled voice.

Sage shook her head, blonde strands flying. “No...he might still be in there.” She pleaded, voice higher; on the verge of loosing all control of the tears.

“G...I’m so sorry.” Eva apologized.

“He might still be alive!” Sage sobbed helplessly into the warm air.

Eva did nothing but watched as Xiumin picked up her begging cousin; her own tears threatening to fall.

"We can't leave..." Aisha croaked out. The members shook their heads in sorrow.

Protests of ‘please’ and ‘I can’t leave him’ flew from Sage’s and Aisha’s mouths. “Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!” Sage wailed.

“We have to find them!” Aisha shrieked.

Kai and Xiumin wordlessly carried the two heartbroken and delusional girls to the van where Tori watched from her perch on Lay’s back. Aisha was holding the front of Kai’s dark grey t-shirt, pulling his face closer to hers as she cried onto his shoulder. Sage was gazing at the demolished building through watery eyes.

Through her blurry vision Sage thought she saw darker shadows moving. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hands, she looked long and hard at the supposed darker shadows to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. The shadows slowly continued to move towards them, staggering slightly.

Hope leaped into Sage’s chest. “Wait!” She shrieked, voice cracking. “Someone’s out there! It could be them!”

Aisha stopped fighting Kai as he tried to force her into the van. Her feet were propped up on either side of the van’s sliding door, using her legs to stop herself from being put into the vehicle. She leaned her head onto his shoulder to look for herself. Seeing the shadows that Sage was muttering about, a sense of utter happiness filled her. “They're alive!”

The boys all shared a simultaneous look. Lay settled Victoria as gently as possible in the backseat of the van then pulled out his own gun. Chen got into the front seat of the van, hand hovering over the ignition incase they needed to make a quick getaway. Kai tried again to force Aisha into the car. Suho and Baekhyun shooed Eva, Scarlett and Samantha into the back beside Victoria.

Xiumin was struggling as Sage fought to get loose. Suho stood by the front passenger door aiming at the unknown shadows. Lay and Baekhyun had their guns raised as well, each standing on a side of the vehicle. Kai grunted as Aisha finally had enough, bent down, and bit his hand. He dropped her. She rolled away from him; hopping to her feet she ran towards the shadows.

Sage brought her foot