I have learned that as each year passes, the pain of losing my family was easing away but it still didn’t change the fact that I missed them desperately.

Sometimes I would think about them and wonder what they’d think of EXODUS today if they were still alive. Would they be disappointed? Outraged? Broken hearted? The city that was once so fast paced and full of life had dimmed down and became a waste land for Nightcrawlers to live on. I’d wonder if Haewon would join the Hunter association and if he’d sneak around with his girlfriend to steal some midnight kisses, and if Gramps would scold him the next day for breaking curfew.

But these fantasies don’t last long. Haewon will never get to have his first kiss and Gramps would never get the chance to see his great grandchildren. My parents will never know how EXODUS looks like now and I’ll never meet them again.

---

We were standing behind the small black gate, trying to follow our eyes to the movement of the ever fast moving wooden target boards in the Archery room. Not everyone had eyes like Chen, so we often missed the heart of the target, catching only the arms and head.

“There we go!” clapped Tao in excitement as Sehun shot his arrow right into the target.

The two boys had been trying to perfect their shootings all morning, but Sehun was a little tired from last night’s hunting. He had told us, in vivid detail, of his night. Apparently he was going on a slaughtering rampage, and that Kai was his witness. If we had been there, we would’ve been very frightened of him, said Sehun. And now, because of all the hunting he had done last night, his arm had no strength to shoot which was why he was doing so badly in archery this morning.

“It’s not even on the target,” Sehun muttered in disappointment. He looked at his best friend in annoyance. “Look, I missed by a bit. Can’t you see?” He reached his arm back for another arrow and pulled it out.

Tao rolled his eyes, ignoring how pessimistic Sehun sounded. “It’s on the target, maybe a centimeter away but it’s still on the damn target you dunce. Aren’t I right, Mia?”

I had been so focused on my own target that I wasn’t paying attention to anybody else in the room. There was something about my shooting today that impressed me. I was surprisingly doing pretty well, hitting every heart that appeared in my way.

“Stop bothering her and let her be,” said Sehun. He understood me so well. He knew exactly when I was and was not listening, and surely now was the time that I definitely wasn’t listening.

It wasn’t until I heard Tao give a sassy hmph that I was pulled out of my own bubble. I paused, “I’m sorry, what?”

Tao grimaced at me and then waved his hand away, as if I was a bug buzzing in his way. “You answer when I least need you.”

“This ,” I reached over and punched him in the arm for his rude behaviour. I’ve been doing this for a while now, but he never suspects it.

“OW!” He kisses his teeth and rubs the side of his arm which was now sore. “You’d think that since you’re a girl, you’d be weaker.”

I dropped my bow and faced him. Why does everybody do that? Why do they feel the need to mention that because I am a girl, it’s surprising that I can do something? Why? Is it that shocking that I can hit hard? Or is it scary that there’s a slight chance that I was more powerful than them?

“Uh oh,” said Sehun, without looking at us. He shook his head from side to side, praying for Tao’s poor soul. “You just got yourself in trouble, buddy.”

“What did you say, Tao?” I narrowed my eyes at him and cracked my knuckles. The sound of him gulping made me laugh.

“Uh,” Tao blinked nervously and looked from side to side. What could he possibly do to save him from getting beat up? Suddenly, his eyes flickered to his watch and a reminder popped in his head. “Don’t you have to head over to the board room?!? You are going to be late for your 11AM board meeting!!!”

I clucked my tongue. He was right; I was going to be late. I picked up my things and gave him a flat look before turning to Sehun and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “See you at lunch!” I said before I went on my way.

“Why is she always so sweet to you, but when it comes to me, she acts so rude?” asked Tao, breathing a sigh of relief. He was glad he didn’t get beat up.

Sehun rolled his shoulders and smiled cheekily, “Because she loves me and also you are kind of a douchebag. I mean, who says that? Just tell her she’s strong, instead of making it sound like you’re insulting her for being a girl.”

“Only women get upset when men say things like this,” sighed Tao.

“No, women get upset because us guys keep constantly saying things like this. It’s annoying. Like, how would you feel if someone says to you, ‘wow, you’re pretty strong for a guy’, like… what the hell is that supposed to mean? Are we supposed to say thanks or….?” Maybe it was early in the morning, but Sehun was feeling very philosophical all of a sudden. He was secretly laughing on the inside when he saw the look of thought on Tao’s face. When was the last time he had this much fun?

After a minute, Tao ignored the question Sehun imposed. “Let’s just keep practicing; we have forty minutes left before we have to meet up with Luhan and Xiumin.”

Sehun scoffed, knowing that he actually left Tao speechless.

What a start to his day.

---

The minutes felt like hours in the board room. Just as Kris said, we had spent the rest of the morning and afternoon mapping out a blue print of the mission. It was Kris, Heechul, and three of the elder hunters Hankyung, Henry and Zhou Mi and I sitting at the big mahogany oak table, gathering our thoughts together and placing it into the blueprint. I felt like a baby cow in a room full of bulls, who had ideas and things to say while I was mindlessly chewing on my gums for comfort.

Hankyung, Henry and Zhou Mi were rarely at the center, because they spent most of the time out in the city, eating and hunting in the abandoned city. They practically lived there, but not just for hunting purposes, but for researching intents as well. They studied the monsters, and watched over the city to warn us of any hazardous changes. They would try to gather as much food supplies as they could and return back to the center with it. Although there weren’t a lot of crops left on the farms here, there were a lot of seeds, which the hunters gathered and brought back here to the center for the scientists to grow and harvest plants. I guess that’s why I had so much respect for them, which was why I kept my mouth shut about entering the land of beast. Even though I knew it was a dangerous mission and that… it probably won’t be a success, I went along with it because those three had the most experience with living outside the border. I couldn’t really object to it, even though I wanted to.

“Come on, Mia,” urged Kris with one of his rare friendly smiles. He looked a little tired, and I wanted to reach out and make it go away. “Pitch in some ideas; you’ve been quiet all morning.”

All five pair of eyes landed on me, and suddenly I grew nervous. I was never that great with offering suggestions.

“Uh,” I started. I didn’t know what to say. My eyes flickered back to Kris, who gave me a reassuring nod to let me know it’s okay to say whatever I had in mind. I racked my brain quickly, wondering what the hell I could come up with before Heechul could scold me. “Well… Honestly, you’ve guys already have so many ideas jotted down. I don’t think there’s anything else… Um… maybe we can start forming what groups people will belong in? I don’t know. Just a thought…”

“Great idea! That should’ve been the very first thing we thought of,” said Hankyung, his deep bellowing voice belting out loudly. He was smiling kindly, and I felt my lips quirk up as well.

“Kris, who’s going to be in your group?” asked Heechul, everyone’s attention going back on him. My body relaxed and I secretly let a breath escape my lips.

Kris straightened up from the desk and crossed his leg absent mindedly. “I haven’t really thought about it. Chanyeol for sure, though.”

I scoffed at him. I thought I had initially done that in my head, but it turns out I actually did do it because everyone had heard the noise I made and returned their attention on me. My face flooded red in embarassment, and Kris looked at me in amusement. He leaned closer and stared at me from across the table, “Looks like somebody has their group planned out. Who do you have in mind, Mia?”

, I am such an idiot sometimes.

“I-I don’t know. It didn’t really cross my mind considering that I only learned about this yesterday…”

Heechul laughed gently and he nodded his head in understanding.

“You’ll be leading the younger hunters, Mia. So don’t worry about figuring out who you want in your group. You’ll meet them after our meeting and training them will start after dinner,” informed Henry. He was kind of bossy and I didn’t really like him, but he was straight up so I guess that balanced everything out. I’d rather have someone be upfront with me than lie to me.

My eyes flickered to Kris for help, because I couldn’t stay after dinner. Today I had to return to my home and Kris knew that. His eyes widened in remembrance and he cleared his throat loudly.

“Mia can’t start training today,” declared Kris. “She has to return home.”

“Home?” repeated Zhou Mi, as if he had never heard of the word before. “Why do you need to return home?”

“Don’t you live here?” asked Hankyung. He looked at his colleagues and was just as