‘Well ’ was the exact expression capable of covering the whole situation.

They tried to explain the trials to the new members while they headed towards the lake. Kris went flight scoping to find the position of the pack of boggers. Kai and Suho described the boggers as ugly white hairless ers, with sharp claws and teeth and black acid goo. They were aggressive and lethal, but stupid enough to attack separately. That was their basic strategy, separate the pack and take them down one by one. Most of the time the bogger’s attacks were avoidable, but it was important to keep some distance from them in case they spat out goo. Suho learned that the hard way.

Kris was already at the lake when they reached it. Suho hung the backpack on a tree branch for safekeeping, as Kris disclosed the pack’s location. They were at the southwest end of the woods, almost 8 Km away.

“There are seven,” Kris said cautiously. “But two of them are different from the others. They’re smaller and they were crouched down walking around on both hands and feet. Almost like a dog.”

“This is insane,” Sehun exasperated, “we’ve always been in advantage, now they’re the same number as us.”

“I think we should take them down in groups, not individually,” Xiumin opined.

“I agree,” Suho said.

“I’ve got an idea. But I’m going to need your help,” Kai said to Chanyeol. The taller boy nodded in agreement. “Okay, listen up everybody.”

Xiumin stood at the southwest end of the lake, a few steps further away than Suho. They waited. Sehun and Lay were farther away towards the south, waiting in position. Chanyeol should be further to their right, which was the west, with Kris assisting him and Kai. Their positions formed a triangle facing the south west end of the forest. When they were ready, Kai would lead the pack towards Chanyeol and hell would break loose. It was only a matter of time.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Suho asked.

“I think it’s a great plan,” if everything goes as planned.

“But will it work?”

Xiumin looked back at Suho and shrugged his shoulders. How could he possibly predict the outcome? Up until now, none of their strategies ever worked out the way they wanted to. There was always a setback, a hitch and they’d always improvise a way out. plan B, improvisation was the best form of surviving. It made you desperate enough to fight to stay alive.

“Let’s just be prepared for the worst,” Xiumin said coolly.

Suho nodded and remain silent finally understanding that Xiumin wasn’t in the mood for talking.

Towards the west, smoke emerged from the canopy. They’ve started. Chanyeol is probably preparing the trap while Kai lures the boggers towards them.

“Suho, look,” he pointed towards the smoke.

“Okay, now we wait for Kai.”

Xiumin nodded and tried to seem calm but inside he was a nervous wreck. The unpleasing feeling he felt the day before resurfaced. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it.

The smoke became bigger and now red flames were visible in between the tree tops. Horrid screeches were heard, many of them. Wind currents began to flow strong as Sehun was feeding the fire. The smoke made visible swirls in the air, similar to tornados. Sehun must have gotten closer towards the trap. They heard more screaming, louder this time. The wind stopped and the fire grew, flames consumed the forest greedily.

Kai appeared between them.

“We’ve got problems,” he quickly said. “Xiumin I need you to help out within. Suho stay here. When you see the flames approaching from the ground, wash it out. Throw the biggest wave you can manage and kill the fire, all of it. Don’t worry about us.”

“Take this,” Suho handed Xiumin his water canteen. He nodded and swung the strap across his body before running into the woods with Kai.

“We managed to burn two of the big ones, but the small boggers are like rabid dogs. They’re faster and much more aggressive. They went for Chanyeol, Kris helped him escape but Chanyeol lost control of the fire. Sehun was still feeding the flames,” he paused. “It’s a freaking wildfire.”

It sure was. Xiumin could feel the heat from five meters away -the smoke was nauseating. They went towards their right where Chanyeol and Kris should be. Suho was smart in giving him the water bottle, because Xiumin could hardly feel the atmospheric humidity.

Chanyeol was firing balls of flame towards the small boggers but they were horribly fast. They would jump from side to side, evading all his attacks. Kris tried to help from the air but he was at a serious disadvantage. The smoke was a hindrance and the damn boggers were too fast for him to knock with a descending kick. When he tried to hit one, the other bogger jumped high into the air nearly biting Kris’ face off. He kept his distance from then on, knowing he couldn’t get close enough without getting attacked.

“We have to separate the boggers,” Xiumin said.

Kai nodded and disappeared. He popped behind one bogger and kicked it, and before the beast could turn and bite him, Kai appeared halfway towards Xiumin. The latter opened the bottle and took a mouthful of water. Kai appeared behind him and the small bogger ran straight towards Xiumin. Kai stared at him shocked telling him to run, but Xiumin lifted a hand to signal him he was fine. The bogger growled as it was 5 meters away, 4, 3, 2. As the bogger pounced forwards, Xiumin spat out the water forming a sharp icicle, which aimed directly towards the beast with high speed. The bogger jumped head forward into the icicle, impaling the ice into the center of his head. Xiumin jumped to the side to avoid the bogger’s dying body from falling onto him. The anomalistic creature scraped the ground with force, due to the inertia it accumulated. Half the icicle had punctured into the bogger’s skull. Its body disintegrated into the smoky air.

“Head shot,” he said to himself.

“You’re too good at this,” Kai said astounded.

“I won’t take that as compliment,” Xiumin hastily said.

“How did you know it would jump?”

“They jump towards the head. I saw Kris nearly became headless before,” Xiumin explained. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

They went towards Chanyeol, only to see him burning the bogger off Kris’ arm. The monster let go of its bite grip on Kris and fell to the ground, Chanyeol kept burning it until nothing was left but carbon.

“. Kai go get Lay,” Xiumin said before running towards Kris.

The tall boy was sitting on the ground, his eyes wide and mouth trembling. Xiumin crouched next to him. He could tell the other was in shock. Kris’ left arm was severely burnt. It was red all over, with patches of black and pieces of skin were missing. Xiumin could see yellow fat tissue and soft pink muscle tissue through open wounds that went through the full thickness of the skin. There was a clear distinction between the wounds caused by the bogger’s bite and the ones caused by the fire. Towards the rim of the first wounds black goo corroded the tissue, whilst the fire wounds had dark red blood gushing out. There were blisters around the skin where the burn was more superficial. Overall, it was a bloody mess.

“Kris, Kris look at me,” Xiumin tried to gain the other’s attention, but he was completely stunned. “Kris I need you to lift your arm for me, okay? Just raise it upwards, please.” Kris’ eyes shakily moved towards Xiumin, his whole body shivered. “Kris, can you please lift your arm?” Slowly, the injured one lifted his arm up, until Xiumin said it was enough. He needed the arm to be above his heart level, to decrease blood loss. “Kris, don’t look at it.” The other immediately complied.

“,” a deep voice said behind him. “What have I done?”

Xiumin didn’t want to face the other boy. He couldn’t face Chanyeol without wanting to beat him up into a pulp.

“You were ing reckless and irresponsible, you inconsiderate imbecile.” Xiumin’s voice reeked with rage. “You could’ve killed him,” his tone felt devastatingly cold.

“I… I… What can I do?” his voice was broken. “Should we put water on it?”

“It would only damage him more,” his tone was severely cold. “Just control the fire, get it away from us. The smoke can dirty and heat up the wound.”

He heard the other leave and took deep breaths to control his anger. Right now he needed to concentrate in helping Kris and not planning Chanyeol’s murder.

“Kris, I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will help, but I need to do something,” he explained as he raised his hands over the burn, leaving a lot of space between them. He tried to cool down the air around Kris’ arm, since directly putting water or ice could cause hypothermia or a severe drop of blood pressure, which would worsen the shock. “Does it feel better?” he asked, but Kris remained silent. It was stupid of him to ask, Kris’ arm nerves were probably too damaged for him to feel at all. But maybe that was better.

He heard running footsteps and Kai appeared next to him.

“!” Kai said when he looked at the injury. “I’m going to kill him. I swear I’m going to kill Chanyeol.”

“Calm down,” a tired voice said. “Let me see the wound,” Lay kneeled next to Xiumin and the latter removed his hands.

Lay observed the wound intensely, before he lifted his hands over Kris’s arm and lightly swayed his fingers. Xiumin watched in awe as each layer of tissue regenerated, from inside out, first the layer where the muscle was exposed, then the subcutaneous layer with fat and blood vessels, and then the dermis and finally the epidermis. Even the hair follicles were regenerated and hair grew back onto his skin.

“Try to move your arm please,” Lay asked kindly.

Xiumin was impressed at how calm he seemed during the whole situation. Kris looked at his arm and was utterly surprised, as if he hadn’t felt what the other did to him. He placed down his arm and then lifted it again. He bent it inwardly and flexed his hand.

Lay reached and took Kris’ hand in his and held the other’s arm firmly. He poked the healed arm with his free hand, “Can you feel that?” he asked repeatedly as he fondled across Kris’ arm.

“He’s fine,” Lay said with a smile and stood up. “He’s just little shocked at the moment, but when it allays he will start talking again.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Kai said sincerely, but Lay waved him off.

“From now on, I’ll always be here to help.”

“You might want to be there for Chanyeol when we beat the out of him,” Kai said sardonically.

“Come on, help me get Kris away from the fire. I don’t think Chanyeol can control it any longer” Xiumin said languidly. Kai squatted next to him and lifted Kris from the right side while Lay took hold of the left.

“Let’s head north,” Kai suggested.

“Kai, where’s Sehun?” Xiumin asked.

“He’s south from the fire. He’s got two boggers trapped in a vortex.”

“He managed to kill one already,” Lay added.

“Is he alone?” he asked sternly. “Did you leave him alone?”

“Well yeah. I mean, he didn’t want to let the boggers go and I had to leave with Lay.”

“,” Xiumin stopped. “Okay you guys take Kris to the north end of the lake, but don’t get close to the lake, go around it.”

“Why what’s wrong?” Lay asked.

“Oh, . Suho’s going to flood the place,” Kai remembered.

Xiumin nodded and ran back towards the fire.

Xiumin ran with his hand covering his mouth to avoid inhaling too much smoke. He quickly found Chanyeol and warned him to leave. He ran circling the fire until he spotted Sehun from a considerate distance. The taller boy had two boggers surrounded in a vortex, but it was more of a defensive hold than an attack.  Xiumin was about to yell at him but he heard tree branches break loudly. Before he could register what was happening, a big wave pushed him forward and dragged him away.

He lost all control of movement as his body tumbled with the wave, he felt himself bump and crash against trees, bushes and rocks. But the passing of the wave was short and fast. A few seconds passed and he was sprawled with his back against the ground. He faced the sunless sky which was colored orange. His body felt sore all over.

Sehun.

He looked towards his left and saw a bogger slumped on the ground only one meter away from him. He tried to sit up but his right shoulder, waist and right leg hurt too much. He looked towards the bogger and saw that the damn thing was breathing and began to move. He outstretched his left arm towards the aberrant creature and used the remaining water to cover the bogger with ice. The bogger whimpered as it froze to death.

“Absolute zero, ,” Xiumin whispered to himself as the body of the bogger disappeared.

He saw Sehun lying on the ground further away, he was probably as sore as Xiumin felt. A pair of black sneakers popped in front of his face.

“Ouch, Xiumin. You look like ,” Kai said as he helped him up.

“I think I busted my leg,” Xiumin painfully said. “For real this time.”

“Where’s Sehun?”

“He’s..” Xiumin’s eyes widen in fright as he saw the bogger approach Sehun, who was struggling to get up.

The damn creature pounced at Sehun. Xiumin looked back at Kai who was looking towards Sehun. Don’t do anything stupid, he wanted to tell him, but when he grabbed onto Kai’s arm he felt the pit of his stomach sink as darkness engulfed him. He felt his whole body compress, the breath in his lungs squeezed out, his senses blackened. All he knew was that he was still holding onto Kai with a desperate vice grip. And then he felt himself fall, air filled his lungs in a harsh breath, light blinded his eyes as he let go of Kai. Xiumin blinked twice before getting back to his senses. He was sitting on the floor, as if he fell on his bottom and Kai stood next to him facing the opposite direction, hunched over Sehun. The bogger was over them, literally falling onto them. Quickly Xiumin clapped his hands together and created a big sharp icicle before him, piercing the bogger’s torso with sharp ice as it dived onto Kai.

Sehun screamed.

The bogger disintegrated and Kai fell forward on top of Sehun. Xiumin turned to see what was wrong. Everything was wrong. Kai’s back had six big bloody holes, two columns of three stabs where the bogger impaled its longest claws. The injured boy supported his body over Sehun’s with his arms on each side of Sehun’s head, the boy on the floor was holding onto the other’s shoulders.

“Kai? Kai!”

Xiumin got up, ignoring all the pain his body felt and helped Kai sit to the side, off of Sehun. Kai had those wide frighten eyes, just like last time. Xiumin remembered those scared innocent eyes, but now they also seemed apologetic, as if they were saying ‘I’m sorry, don’t be mad at me’. So childlike and innocent.

Kai’s face distorted painfully as he coughed out blood.

“, he’s got internal bleeding,” Xiumin stated.

Sehun moved closer to Kai and enfolded Kai into his arms. “Kai?” he sobbed. Kai groaned as he looked at Sehun. “You idiot. You ing stupid idiot,” he cried. “I told you not to play the hero.” Kai’s blood stained mouth smirked and he groaned as he lifted his hand to weakly caress Sehun’s cheek. “Stop smirking you idiot. I hate you. I hate you,” he bawled out.

“Sehun don’t say that!” Xiumin deplored. What if that’s the last thing you say to him, was what he really meant.

Sehun began to whisper stuff to Kai, Xiumin let them be. He knew he should take Kai back to the lake where Lay should be, or even hurry him to the facility hospital. But he knew how close Sehun and Kai were and he didn’t want to separate them, not just yet.

The uneasiness he felt before, this was it, this was what it was foretelling. He thought it was Kris, but it was Kai again. Kai: the unselfish reckless guy, who didn’t think twice before putting his life at risk in order to save others. The Hero Syndrome.  

“Sehun, we’ve got to take him to Lay,” he finally said when he noticed Kai was struggling to breathe. “Sehun look at him!” he yelled when the other didn’t respond. “Sehun please, move!”

Sehun hoisted Kai up, linking his arms under Kai’s armpits. Xiumin lifted the other’s legs and helped carry him away. Kai was trembling and gasping for air, his face paled and his lips turned purple. Not only was he losing blood, he also must have punctured a lung or both.

“Sehun, I know he’s hard to carry,” Xiumin huffed with effort, “but can you try to fill his lungs with air?”

“What?”

“Help him breathe. Force air into his lungs,” he explained.

Sehun wrapped his left arm over Kai’s chest and pulled Kai’s back against his chest. With his other arm, he hooked the other’s armpit with his bicep and bent his forearm towards Kai’s face. He held his hand over Kai’s nose and mouth and flowed air into the other’s system. Rhythmically, he forced air in and out, in and out.

Lay immediately ran towards them once they appeared at the lake. They gently placed Kai on the ground, his body was completely limp and he was unconscious. Xiumin fell to the ground, his legs were sore, everything hurt. Sehun’s clothes were covered in blood, his face was pale and eyes red. He collapsed next to Xiumin and broke down into tears. Xiumin reached for Sehun’s hand and held it tight. Suho hugged the crying boy, Kris stood over Lay and Chanyeol stood near them but he was the furthest away, he looked shocked, sad and misplaced.

“Take him to the hospital as fast as you can,” Lay ordered Kris. Without a moment of hesitation, Kris scooped up Kai in his arms and flew fast through the sky.

“Couldn’t you heal him?” Suho asked worried.

“I sealed his pleural space to stop the lungs from collapsing. And one kidney and his liver.” he paused. “The wounds are very deep and he’s lost too much blood. I did help, but I don’t have enough energy to fully cure him.” He paused. “I’m not strong enough yet,” he said regretfully. “I’m sorry.”

No one said a word after that. Lay seemed uncomfortable, either he was lying about how bad Kai was or too embarrassed that he wasn’t able to heal him. A hopeless vibe emitted from him as he leisurely examined Sehun and Xiumin.

“You fissured your tibia and patella of your right leg. You shoulder is nearly dislocated and you have two fractured ribs,” Lay recited. “Are you in unbearable pain?”

“No, I’m numbed out,” Xiumin said breathlessly.

“I need some time to rest, put I can heal you,” Lay said. “So stay calm and relaxed.”

Xiumin nodded and lay his back against the ground. He saw Chanyeol come with the supply backpack and handed Lay some energy bars and water.

I can wait… I’ll just close my eyes and wait.