Tao knelt down to scoop water into his smooth hands, raising them to watch it trickle down slowly. As each drop reunited with the blue vastness in front of him, fish darted forward as though expecting to catch food. He smiled faintly and poked a finger into the water, giggling charmingly as the fish guardedly nipped at his skin. I was absentmindedly titling my head, examining him with a sly grin.

With a skip in his step, Luhan strolled over to the other Chinese man and stooped down beside him. He twirled his fingers gracefully and surrounded Tao with delicate bubbles, some containing tiny marine creatures and others perfectly transparent. Tao chuckled and cautiously extended a finger to pop one, catching the glittering fish that had been trapped inside and releasing it back into the water. He did this with each bubble until they had all completely vanished, before turning to converse with Luhan, who was childishly splashing his large feet around.

I quickly realised that Luhan was chatting with Tao to distract him; the older man’s hands sluggishly snuck towards Tao’s back pocket, fingers twitching with eagerness to grab a hold of his mobile. An eternity seemed to have passed by the time Luhan managed to snatch it up. He smirked and moved to tuck the mobile into his own pocket. Tao was not as gullible as he appeared.

‘If you wanted to see the next clue, you could have just asked’, Tao explained, cocking an amused eyebrow.

Luhan forced an awkward laugh as he unsteadily placed the mobile into Tao’s lap with an expression of pure guilt. ‘Ah, sorry…I guess I was getting a little impatient.’

Tao straightened out, rising to his feet and tugging Luhan up with him. He led the way over to where the rest of us were sprawled about lazily, still retracing the memory of our near death experience. Jongdae seemed to be the most affected, his eyes permanently widened and on the lookout. With even the slightest of movements or sounds, he retreated further away from the water, startled and shaking. Chanyeol followed him, draping an arm around his shoulder and nuzzling against him. The shorter man took to this pleasantly, appreciating any and all comforting gestures. Jongin clung to Kyungsoo, not because he was frightened but because he wanted to be within close proximity of him. Whilst Kyungsoo warily surveyed his surroundings, Jongin gazed at him dreamingly and found himself imagining oddly romantic scenarios. Kris rested with his head in my lap, eyes closed and breathing evenly quiet. I prodded at him as Tao approached, disrupting his deep slumber.

‘I’ve been told that you’re pretty smart’, Tao confessed, holding his phone out, ‘so I’ll let you be the first to read it.’

[Blocked Number] 5:31pm

What you must do is simple. Remain in the area until 5:02pm on Sunday if you wish to meet your new companions.

[Blocked Number] 5:03pm

The place you must venture towards is an exceptional, pulsing alluvial fan which receives a discharge of approximately eleven cubic kilometres of water each year. It is often devastated by severe seasonal flooding and its drier areas come in the form of numerous tiny islands. If this does not ring any bells for you, maybe the UNESCO World Heritage List can be of service. You have exactly a week to locate your members.

[Blocked Number] 5:04pm

#1000

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Kris puckered his lips in concentration, but before he could whip out his phone and do some research, I cut him off with confidence. ‘Our next destination is likely the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It was listed as the 1000^th site on the World Heritage List last year, from what I can recall. It consists of dangerous marshlands and your typical Safari animals.’

The others stared at me incredulously, mouths fully agape. They each peered down at Tao’s phone, trying to understand how I had figured the clue out so speedily. A couple of them nodded, pretending the answer was obvious.

‘If it’s all marshlands and small islands, how are we supposed to explore it? Where would we find someone in an area like that?’ Chanyeol pondered, leaning all of his body weight against a frowning Jongdae.

Kris scratched his chin. ‘If we hadn’t just experienced hell on that raft earlier, I would’ve suggested we take a tour.’

‘That might still be our only option’, I responded, kicking tiredly at a pebble by my feet, ‘but for now, we should focus on getting to Botswana safely.’

Previously, we were able to book flights quite easily on short notice. With an increasing crew, however, it became more difficult to stick with reliable airlines because they were more often than not completely full. After desperately calling the few available services offering flights to Botswana, I came to the conclusion that we were going to be flying cheap and dirty.

‘We’re going to die’, Jongin muttered, squishing into his seat, ‘or at least lose all feeling in our legs. I can’t even move.’

Kyungsoo shuffled clumsily in beside him and even though he was far shorter, both knees were hard-pressed against the seat in front of him. ‘If you need to stretch, just rest your legs over mine for a while.’

I lugged my duffle bag through the miniscule aisle, shaking my head at Jongin’s prominently blushing cheeks. My seat was a row ahead of them and there were no overhead compartments in sight. With a sigh, I wiggled into my seat, heavy bag crushing my legs. I was almost entirely suffocated as Kris plonked his bag atop mine so that he could fasten his seatbelt.

‘Just in case we end up in the bottom of the ocean, there’s something I need to tell you’, Kris stated casually, stealing his bag back and tossing it into the aisle.

I rolled my eyes dramatically and turned to look at him with indifference. ‘Don’t you dare get all mushy on me.’

‘But Junmyeon, I love you!’

‘Stop messing around you dickhead.’

Kris chuckled and reached across to gently run his fingers through my hair. ‘I wasn’t joking. I do love you and I am genuinely convinced that this plane is going to crash. Did you see the pilot? He had a teardrop tattooed on his cheek!’

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover, Kris.’

‘I think it’s fair to be judgemental in a situation that means my life or death.’

Slapping his hand away, I gave him a hasty inspection. ‘You’re really tall and have a tough looking tattoo, yet you’re the softest pansy I’ve ever met.’

We chortled boisterously, but instantly fell silent as the plane took off and we were thrown about like huge ragdolls. Kris was right. We were definitely going to die.