Chapter four

12-05-15

WARNING!

Some (maybe two or something) curse words…

…

You have been warned!

‘’Sir, are you sure you want to go through all this again?

‘’Do you have it?’’

‘’Yes sir, but I don’t see the point in searching a-‘’

‘’If you have the list than give it up already!’’

‘’But sir, we haven’t found him for nearly three years, are you-‘’

‘’I said give me the ing list! I’ll never stop looking for that brat, you heard me? NEVER!’’

Baekhyun had been wandering around for a good twenty minutes, running around for a good five, and he had come to a conclusion that this was ‘just’ a maze. There wasn’t a single scintilla of light inside and everything looked like there hadn’t been anyone inside for a hundred years- what was bull of course. Every now and then, he would stumble upon an open square. Everything was dark and messed up – and if it wasn’t for Baekhyun’s 24-vision, he probably wouldn’t have been able to see a thing. He hadn’t found a way out yet, neither had he found someone.

He had only heard a scream.

That was ten minutes ago.

Baekhyun had been running on full speed for the past five minutes, and it was starting to tire him out. Although he was still breathing in and out calmly, his forehead was covered in sweat and his legs started to ache.

He turned around and shot a big light ball to the two huge, dark creatures behind him before he heard them shriek. They had been following ever since Baekhyun killed one of them when it tried to kill him. He had found out the creatures had a weakness for light, and let Baekhyun just have the brightest lights within him.

He ran a little faster, hoping he could get away from them.

Those creatures were spiders, huge, mutant spiders. The further he got inside the maze, the more they kept occurring. Luck wasn’t on Baekhyun’s side, and that was proved again when he suddenly stumbled upon a dead-end. He immediately let himself fall on his knees, sliding over the concrete ground all the way to the wall – skinning his knees – and before he could hit it, covered himself with a big, scorching light shield. The spiders ran too fast, they weren’t able to stop when he did that. So they ran into the scorching light.

Baekhyun’s face crunched up when the beasts let out an ear-piercing shriek and made himself smaller. The mutants above him melted due to the heat of the light, something Baekhyun had learned to control many years ago. It took a while before them finally stopping screaming, and when they did, Baekhyun removed the shield and sat down against the wall, leaning his head backward to feel the cold stone against his neck as he softly panted. His legs were spread out on the ground, showing two big holes in his sweatpants and his bleeding knees.

Baekhyun ignored them and turned out the pain. He closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the cool concrete.

On the other side of the maze, in a completely different state, wandered Chanyeol. He was still a bit shaken from the jump and would shiver every now and then by only the thought of doing it again. His hands were cold, his feet freezing. He wished he had worn his long P.E. clothes instead of the short ones, it was also a stupid time to do stuff outside.

It was only January, and still freezing outside. Chanyeol sighed inwardly and hugged himself in the hope to get a little warmer. On top of that, he couldn’t see . There was no light inside and for the first time since he met Baekhyun, he thought it was a really useful ability.

There were many noises around him, noises of footsteps, hastily running through the maze. Screeches and screams, not only from human beings but also from something wherefrom Chanyeol actually didn’t know if he even wanted to know what it was.

He hadn’t seen Baekhyun ever since his roommate fled on the ropes, what still kind of surprised him. Baekhyun, who didn’t look strong at all, still managed to get himself up the rope in record time, even beating Chanyeol. It was quite impressive.

When Chanyeol left the hall, there was only one person on the ground – who wasn’t able to climb the rope – and six others stood on the platform, they didn’t dare to go down. Mr. Lim was yelling at those kids for being cowards, and they were. They should be more like him; Chanyeol thought. If they dared just as much as he did, they would’ve been much further in the game already.

He heard another, loud scream and a yell for help; but it was far away and muffled. If it was closer, Chanyeol might have gone off to help the person, but he was probably too late when he’d arrive there, besides, he had a game to win.

Baekhyun’s eyes shot open from his non-existent nap by hearing the sudden scream. He was about to stand up when he suddenly heard the same person scream again, this time in the form of a cry for help. Baekhyun quickly pushed himself off the ground and ran to the noise. He took a turn to the left, then one to the right and another on to the right before he ran into another open square. His eyes immediately landed on a girl, probably around his size, trapped beneath a huge, hairy spider. The spider’s many eyes were bloodshot red and the girl’s face reflected in them as she screamed her heart out while trying to avoid the sharp teeth that inched closer to her head.

Baekhyun didn’t hesitate a second and both accidently and on instinct shot a huge light straight in the spider’s head, which started shrieking before it fell to the side, dead.

‘’Are you okay?’’ Baekhyun asked, his voice concerned yet cold as he quickly helped the girl upright. She was shivering from head to toe as she hold his arms.

‘’I-I-I t-think so.’’ Her voice heavily shivered along with her body and her face stood pale. She definitely did not look okay.

‘’Let’s get you off the ground; can you stand?’’ Baekhyun asked. The girl nodded and Baekhyun grabbed her elbows to carry her off the cold ground unto her own, shaky legs.

‘’T-thank y-you.’’ She said and Baekhyun nodded. ‘‘Don’t mention it.’’

‘’Can you walk?’’

The girl again nodded and took a shaky step forwards before looking at Baekhyun again. ‘’I think I can.’’ She muttered, as if she was ashamed.

‘’Good, then we’ll go further together.’’

The girl gave him an odd look. He had to admit that he felt worried for the girl, and he doubted if she could make it out of the maze in a state like that; shivering and frightened to death.

‘’B-but is it o-okay for us to g-go together?’’

‘’I’m not going to leave you alone after that.’’

The girl gave him a small smile.

‘’Okay, now let’s find a way to escape this dead-zone.’’ Baekhyun said in a hushed voice and started walking, making sure to keep his eyes on the girl.

‘’I know how w-we can escape.’’ The girl said. Baekhyun immediately stopped walking and turned around to see the girl fidgeting with the hem of her torn shirt.

‘’How?’’ His voice was full with authority.

’’My ability, I can see things. I can see the whole world in my eyes, I can see the exact way to get out of the maze, just like a GPS, but I can see the whole world like that. My name is Jihyun by the way.’’

‘’Baekhyun, I can… manipulate and create light.’’ Baekhyun said. ‘’But your ability is really great, do you think you’re able to lead us out of here?’’

‘’I should be.’’ Jihyun nodded before she walked in front of Baekhyun without another word. ‘’I got your back.’’ Baekhyun whispered, he knew Jihyun had heard him, and although she was still visibly shivering, she looked determined.

They walked for a while, walking through more than a hundred paths and at least ten open spaces. Passing dead-ends and dead spiders. Until Jihyun suddenly stopped walked, right in front of a wall that on both the left and right side didn’t seem to end.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ Baekhyun asked as he stood beside her. Jihyun shook her head. ‘’This isn’t supposed to be here.’’

‘’What are you talking about?’’ Baekhyun asked, starting to get a bit confused.

‘’The wall, there isn’t supposed to be a wall here. There is no other way, we need to get through that wa-‘’

‘’Get behind me and cover your ears.’’ Baekhyun said with authority as he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. Jihyun did what he told her to do and Baekhyun stretched out his arms, palms pointing outwards.

‘’What are you gonna do?’’ Jihyun asked as Baekhyun charged his strength

‘’Light van explode when there’s enough force for it.’’ Baekhyun quickly explained, and when he felt ready, he once again warned Jihyun to cover her ears before he shot.

BAMM!!

Brick chunks flew around everywhere and the wall collapsed; a curtain of smoke flared up. Baekhyun looked at the smoke, unable to see what was behind it. Not a single sound was made. He concentrated hard on his vision, but wasn’t able to look through it.

‘’Baekhyun, is everything okay?’’ He heard Jihyun ask, her hands had gripped his shirt from behind and she was scared, it was audible in her voice. Baekhyun was about to respond, saying everything was alright, when a black, thick, hairy leg slowly stepped over a small piece of wall that had stayed. The smoke finally cleared, just enough for Baekhyun to see what was behind it. His eyes widen.

There were at least five more mutant spiders, all looking sharp-set at him. More appeared behind the five and all stared at him, with all their many eyes on their huge head. Baekhyun unconsciously took a step back.

‘’No, not okay – RUN!’’ He yelled and took a small step back, feeling how Jihyun’s grip on his shirt loosened before he quickly turned around, grabbed her arm and ran.

‘’Dude, what the ?!’’ Chanyeol yelled when some random guy suddenly appeared right in front of him – after he let out an unmanly scream. The guy was slightly shorter than him, but around the same age. The boy turned around and Chanyeol faced him.

He had greyish-white hair with an undercut, a chiselled face and eyes that displayed the world in them. He wore the exact same outfit as Chanyeol did, meaning he was in the same P.E. class with him. Chanyeol started wondering how he hadn’t noticed the guy earlier.

‘’Oh sorry, didn’t see you there.’’ The boy replied and took a step rearward, distancing the enlarging the distance between them.

Chanyeol scoffed and was about to turn away when the boy sudden called out for him, because there was no one else to call out around them.

‘’Have you seen a boy with huge eyes and black hair, he’s smaller than me and-‘’

‘’I’m not looking out for people.’’ Chanyeol cut the boy off before he could get his hopes up. But he was kind of curious why the boy was searching for someone when they just could’ve stayed together.

‘’Something happened?’’ He asked. The guy nodded.

‘’Yeah, we went in together when we were attacked by this huge, strange creature. I tried to teleport me and him away from it but I forgot to grab his hand – I need to hold someone to teleport him with me.’’ Chanyeol nodded in understanding.

‘’When I came back, he wasn’t there anymore and now I can’t find him. I’ve been teleporting around ever since.’’ The boy said before extending his hand. ‘’I’m Jongin by the way.’’

‘’Chanyeol, I command fire.’’ Chanyeol merely shook Jongin’s hand. ‘’How long was that ago, when you lost him, I mean?’’ He asked.

‘’About five minutes ago, maybe ten.’’ Jongin calmly shrugged, but he didn’t look calm at all. He looked extremely concerned and slightly scared.

‘’Okay… well good luck with finding him then.’’ Chanyeol gave Jongin a pet on his shoulder as he walked past him. Dumbfounded, Jongin turned around.

‘’Wait, you’re not gonna help me?’’ He asked indignantly.

Chanyeol didn’t stop walking and shook his head. ‘’Nope.’’ He said and rounded a corner. For the second time that day, the boy – Jongin – teleported right in front of him, startling him. Chanyeol jumped backward.

‘’HEY, I said I wasn’t going to help you and your pathetic friend so stop ing doing that!’’ He yelled and walked past him again, not giving Jongin a change to speak.

Little did he know he would never get rid of the boy.

Jongin appeared in front of him again seconds later and was about to say something, when he was cut off by the loudest, most agonizing screech he had ever heard in his entire life.

He had killed two spiders, and the third – hopefully last one – made his way closer to them. Jihyun was panting heavily and if it wasn’t for Baekhyun to constantly pull her forward, she would’ve fallen a long time ago.

He heard more screams from a few paths next to him. He felt sorry for them, he shouldn’t have done that. Baekhyun wanted to help them, he wanted to help them all. But he knew there was no way he would be able to succeed in doing that.

When he had pulled Jihyun in front of him again, he turned around and threw a much bigger light ball than before at the mutant’s head and killed it.

Then they stopped coming.

When Jihyun noticed he had stopped running, she stopped as well and grabbed her knees, panting out loud. ‘’Was- was that the last one?’’ She asked. Baekhyun, who had his back to her, nodded; but he didn’t take his eyes away from the path they came from. Something was wrong.

When they started running, at least five spiders were following them, and another one came later.

He shot three of them to a certain death.

One, maybe two were in another path.

Then where is the sixth one?

Baekhyun’s eyes widened when it hit him.

‘They can climb´

He quickly turned to Jihyun and relieve hit him when he saw she was still in the same position, unharmed. He proceeded to look up, but before he was able to register what he saw, the big, hairy creature he searched for jumped right on top of him, knocking him down on the hard, concrete ground.

‘’BAEKHYUN!’’ Jihyun yelled as she straightened her back immediately, wanting to help him. But they both knew she wasn’t able to. She caught the spider’s attention, its head slowly turned in her direction as she took a frightened step backwards.

‘’HEY! DOWN HERE!’’ Baekhyun yelled and kicked the spider with his leg. He caught the mutant’s attention and was about to aim a light ball at him when the beast suddenly started screeching in anger, louder than ever. His head was close to Baekhyun’s who had his head turned to the side and his eyes crunched close, thick, gross salvia hit his face. The spider’s heavy weight had pinned him to the ground, his left hand was stuck beneath the spider’s belly while the other was next to his head, and his elbow pinned down as well.

Trying to ignore the absurdly agonizingly loud screeching, Baekhyun looked somewhere else. He looked at the wall, were another spider was quickly approaching, and then at Jihyun, who had no idea  what she had to do, neither did she know about the upcoming danger.

Baekhyun knew his voice would never win it over the screech of the spider, and instead of calling out for her, he made a light shield around her with his mind, surprising her.

The next second, the spider jumped down on the shield, burning to its certain death while Jihyun screamed in fear. She, however, stayed save.

The mutant pinning him to the ground finally stopped screaming, but its head was still dangerously close to Baekhyun’s.

‘’Jihyun! Don’t touch the shield!’’ He yelled when he saw her trying to touch it. She quickly retreated her hands and looked at him with pleading and concerned eyes.

Baekhyun looked back at the spider. He saw his face reflecting in its eyes, but paid more attention to the hand stuck under the belly, that he had finally managed to charge to its fullest, and dug it in the mutant’s belly. The spider started screaming louder than before when he burned light right through his skin and moved up slightly, freeing the arm Baekhyun had next to him head. He didn’t hesitate and shot the beast right through his head, killing it.

Its body collapsed on Baekhyun, who panted and let his body rest on the cold ground. The dome around Jihyun disappeared.

He felt the spider shuffle on him, but it was Jihyun who did that, trying to move it off of him. It took some effort for the both of them before the mutant finally rolled off him.

‘’Are you okay?’’ Jihyun asked as she pulled Baekhyun into a sitting position. It was funny how the tables were turned so fast; although Baekhyun wasn’t trembling as much as Jihyun did.

‘’I’m fine.’’ His voice cracked as he tried to reassure the girl.

‘’Why didn’t you let me help you?’’ She asked.

‘’Then what were you gonna do?’’ Baekhyun asked, looking straight into her eyes. It had sounded rude, but they both knew he didn’t mean it like that. Jihyun looked down, avoiding his eyes.

‘’Sorry.’’ Baekhyun said.

‘’No, you’re right. There wasn’t anything I could do. I can only see and make people see, but other than that I ca-‘’ Baekhyun cut her off.

‘’Wait, what did you say?’’

Jihyun frowned. ‘’That I can’t do anything?’’

‘’No, the other thing.’’

‘’I can only see and make people see… I can only...’’ She stopped talking when she realized wat me meant and looked at the boy, who had a small smirk playing on his face.

Maybe there was a way to save them all.

The big-eyed kid, better known as Do Kyungsoo, was aimlessly walking around in the maze. He was walking around in a hole, filled with nothing but darkness. There seemed to be no end.

There was blood on his hands, but it wasn’t his. It was the spiders’. After Jongin had left him to fend for himself, he had no other choice but to kill the spider. Ever since then, they kept coming and never left him alone.

Kyungsoo was fully aware of what he was capable of. He knew that one mistake, one huge tantrum or one bad moment could led the whole building to collapsing. He was rated nine out of ten (9-10) in both mental and physical strength and so far rated as the strongest and most dangerous person in whole EXO.

He’d smash the spiders between walls, block them from coming near or just choke them with his bare hands, causing the blood on his hands.

He shove away a wall and walked into a new path when he suddenly heard an odd voice in his mind. A map appeared in his mind, with a bright yellow line pointing out the exact way to what seemed like a way out. Kyungsoo shrugged, it wasn’t like there was something better he could do anyway.

Jihyun’s eyes were wide open, no colour was left in them except for white, bright white; lighted up by a small light ball Baekhyun had floating in the mid-air to give her some light as well. She was seated on the ground, in a deep trance, while Baekhyun stood in front of her, leaning against the wall. The had searched for a particular location in the maze were it was the easiest to escape; after hearing Jihyun say there were at least twenty more spiders behind the other wall.

She was ‘calling’ the others, and had told him that whatever happened, he could not touch or move her. It could cause her to never wake up from her trance. So if something would happen, Baekhyun told her he’d shield her with the same shield as before, but whatever she did, she could not touch it. His shields were maybe scorching hot on the outside, they were cold as ice on the inside. He was still working on the temperature.

They – although Jihyun didn’t fully agree with it – had made a plan. They would search for the place with the least walls between them and a way out and basically explode their way through them. Baekhyun had no idea if there was actually someone else who could blow away a wall, he hoped there was. But if not, he had already prepared himself to do the job himself.

Five minutes passed, and still no sign from a human being. He was about to send a light ball to the other side of the path when suddenly, someone came. It was a girl, her face was dark with dust and her shirt – just like Jihyun’s – was torn at her side. She was limping as she made her way towards them.

Baekhyun didn’t hesitate to stand up and run to the girl, twist her arm around his neck and grab her waist to keep her up. The girl muttered a soft, hardly audible ‘thank you’ as she rested on Baekhyun.

‘’What happened?’’ Baekhyun asked, his voice soft in case there was something behind the walls. He sat the girl on the ground next to Jihyun, who wasn’t out of her trance yet, and squatted down in front of her.

The girl didn’t answer at first and rested against the cold stones, non-verbally loving the light ball. She was somewhat on the thinner side, her face narrow and her eyes droopy, her eyes were closed, but she wasn’t sleeping.

‘’Spiders.’’ She finally said, her voice sounded weak and Baekhyun didn’t ask further, giving the girl the rest she needed. She didn’t look hurt physically, but more mentally; exhausted and devastated.

A minute later, Jihyun woke up and her eyes went back to the normal, dark ones. She didn’t question about the girl and just nodded at Baekhyun, telling him her job was done.

‘’How many walls are there?’’ Baekhyun inquired.

‘’Seven.’’ Jihyun answered whereupon Baekhyun nodded.

Another minute later, more students began to come.

‘’Thank God.’’ One breathed out as soon as he saw them. ‘’People.’’ He madly laughed. Baekhyun stood up as the boy leaned against the wall. After that, everyone slowly started to come. They all questioned what was going on, why they were here; but Baekhyun told them to wait until everyone had arrived.

Chanyeol was the last one to come, together with another boy. Baekhyun assumed to others were still in the gymnasium.

‘’So what’s the plan?’’ Someone asked.

‘’We’re getting out of here, all of us, together. However, the actual exit is clouded with spiders; so we’re making our own way out.’’ Baekhyun quickly explained.

‘’How?’’

‘’We’re exploding our way through the walls. It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s either this or fighting a ton of spiders. It’s your own decision of you want to come or not.’’ No one walked away.

‘’Is there anyone who can blow up things?’’ Baekhyun asked. They were with eight; eight out of the thirteen. There must be at least someone who could blow stuff up, yet no one stepped up.

‘’Isn’t there really anyone who can explode things?’’ Baekhyun asked again. He saw heads shake and hang low. That meant he was going to do it.

‘’Back off a little.’’ Baekhyun warned and the students did. The girl on the ground tried to push herself up, but fell back down as soon as she was off the ground.

‘’Don’t.’’ Baekhyun whispered as he grabbed the girl’s arm and flung it around his shoulder before grabbing her waist and hoisting her off the ground.

‘’Can someone hold her for a while, she’s not in the state to stand.’’ He said and immediately received a pair outstretched arms from a much bigger guy, taking the girl from him and letting her rest against him.

Baekhyun parted his legs to stand steadily and stretched his arms, cracking his elbows.

‘’Wait, you’re gonna do it?’’ Chanyeol asked in disbelief0; confused and dumbfounded.

‘’You see anyone else who can do it?’’ Baekhyun asked, not looking up at him, retaining in the same position – legs slightly apart and arms stretched forward.

‘’Light can’t bore a wall through a wall, Baekhyun, that’s madness.’’ Chanyeol said, not believing the slightest possibility that Baekhyun could do it. The latter ignored him, and so did Chanyeol ignore the warning to step away. His palms were pointed outwards and his body was still, just like the tension.

BAMM!!

The wall collapsed just like earlier, brick chunks flew up and a new smoke curtain hung in the air. Baekhyun sharpened his sight and was able to see through it.

Behind him, stood Park Chanyeol; astonished and dumbfounded. Baekhyun didn’t turn around to rub it in his face (what Chanyeol himself would definitely do) and kept a straight face. It not only surprised Chanyeol, it also amazed him. How someone other than himself could do something like that so easily.

BAMM!!

The second wall went down.

As Baekhyun neared the third wall, Chanyeol stayed on his place while the students all followed Baekhyun. The girl Baekhyun helped up just now was on the buff guy’s back, Chanyeol had no idea whether she was sleeping or not.

BAMM!!

Out of the blue, a fire ball flew past him, hitting the black creature that was about to jump on him. With a swift turn, Baekhyun looked who as the one before coming to a conclusion it was Chanyeol. He non-verbally thanked the boy before walking to the fourth wall.

BAMM!!

Baekhyun coughed at the smoke. When he looked up again, he saw a boy staring at him with huge eyes.

‘’Kyungsoo?’’

‘’Baekhyun?’’ Kyungsoo took a step forward. ‘’I was about to come, but when I heard the noises, I thought it was better not come.’’

‘’No, no, it’s just me trying to break down some walls.’’ Baekhyun wanted to smile, but he couldn’t.

‘’Step away.’’ Kyungsoo suddenly said and gave him a gentle push rearward.

‘’Wait, you can-‘’

‘’I’m an earth-bender.’’ Kyungsoo answered before he could even finish his question as the wall in front of them went down.

BAMM!!

Two other walls went down like that before the sudden, bright light hit them. Kyungsoo didn’t even look outside and went straight back into the maze, were it was dark. Baekhyun – doing the opposite – walked outside, enjoying the light. Light, by all means, would never hurt him. He heard other students groan due to the brightness, but ignored it. Until a familiar presence stood behind him.

‘’How did you…’’ It was Chanyeol.

Baekhyun turned around and faced him. Chanyeol looked less proud than he usually would look (much to Baekhyun’s enjoyment).

Baekhyun kept a straight face.

’’Light van explode when there’s enough force for it.’’ Baekhyun repeated what he told Jihyun earlier. ‘’I’m not talking about physical strength.’’

Chanyeol didn’t reply.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the girl being carried out, Jihyun talking to the third girl that had dared to come in and Kyungsoo slowly making his way out of the darkness.

Baekhyun didn’t wait for Chanyeol to start talking and started walking back to the gymnasium. ‘’Let’s go.’’ He told the rest as he walked past them, and they followed.

¬

Upon arriving in the hall, they met the remaining four, who hadn’t dared to jump off and were probably ‘rescued’ by the teacher, who was waiting for them.

‘’Well that went faster than I had imagined, killed off some spiders?’’ Mr. Lim asked the first one to enter the hall, which had to be Baekhyun. Baekhyun nodded, he didn’t feel like answering the man who sent them into a maze with mutant spiders that tried to kill them.

He heard someone else becoming mad at the teacher, but ignored it as he walked to the cloakroom. The girl was bought to the nurse’s office while he grabbed his back and went back to his room without a word.