“Zitao wake up!”

He immediately obliged. He shot up out of bed and put some clothes on. He ran out the door knowing it was opened. He ignored the annoying alarm as he ran the red-lighted corridor towards Lay’s room. He opened the door as Lay was putting on a shirt. His white skin glowed red from the light.

“Hurry, come on!”

“What’s happening?” Lay asked as he shoved his feet into his shoes.

“It’s a trial. Hurry we’ve got to join the others,” he quickly explained and grabbed Lay’s hand once they were out of the room. He led him to the stairs. The alarm stopped. “Go down and wait for me. I’ll be there in three minutes.”

“But why?”

“Just do it!”

Lay frowned but did as told. Tao waited for the shriek and then the dogger ran towards him from the left corridor. Tao slowed time and ran towards the creature. He jumped high and aimed both feet towards the back of the dogger’s neck, snapping it like a thin twig. Time returned to its normality and he watched the body disintegrate. He felt disgusted by his cold blooded murder but he had no time to waste. He ran down to meet Lay who seemed relieved to see him safe.

“What happened? I heard a bogger,” he said concerned.

“Yeah, well I killed it already. Let’s go,” Tao forcefully pulled Lay and ran to the resting area in sector A where he knew Chanyeol and Suho were.

“Tao! Please explain! What’s going on?” Tao didn’t have to look back to see Lay’s expression, the boy was so confused that his eyes were probably wide and his mouth opened. “Tao!” he yelled frustrated and pulled Tao backwards.

“We’re almost there Lay! Just hurry, they need our help!” That shut him up, he thought as he tugged Lay to run with him.

They reached the resting area, the fire sprinklers hadn’t gone off yet. Chanyeol was fighting three boggers, keeping them back with flames. Suho tried to assist with a thin water whip from the canteen he always carried.

Chanyeol is fine, Chanyeol is fine and alive, he thought to himself.

“Alright, the sprinklers are going to begin to work. They’ll have things under control. We need to plan ahead to save Chanyeol,” Tao turned to speak to Lay, who seemed completely out of it. “Lay! Are you paying attention?”

“How do you know all this?” he furrowed his brows in frustration.

“I reversed time. Now listen,” water began to fall from the ceiling. Lay looked up utterly surprised but now he seemed completely convinced that Tao was telling the truth. “At that entrance, Kai and Kris will come in and there will be six doggers chasing them. Chanyeol will try to confront them alone but they’re too many. We need to change the plan.” Lay nodded and pondered for a while.

Suho was collecting water in a spiraled form. Chanyeol kept the boggers at bay.

“We could flush them out,” Lay suggested.

“Brilliant,” Tao ran to Suho who was surprised to see him. “Suho! Don’t let go of the water after scalding the boggers!”

“What?”

“Keep control of the water and keep it boiled,” he ordered. Suho frowned but nodded in agreement.

“Move aside,” he warned Tao, as he swayed the water more aggressively. “Chanyeol! I’m ready!”

Chanyeol ran towards Suho and created a giant flame in front of the water bender. Suho made the water pass through it, boiling it. Suho moved the hot water and created a ring surrounding the boggers. The water contracted and the boggers were trapped in a sphere of boiling water. Their hairless queasy skin scalded off, revealing a gaunt form of red muscles and purple veins. The boggers degenerated and vaporized out of the water.

The water stirred slower, steam elevated from the surface of the sphere.

“How long do I have to hold this?” Suho said burdened.

“48 seconds,” Tao immediately answered. “Move closer to the right entrance, Chanyeol help him out. Six doggers will appear after, after Kris and Kai come running through that entrance.”

Chanyeol nodded and went closer to the entrance.

Kai appeared, followed closely by Kris. “Chanyeol burn them, hurry!” the latter yelled as he got closer.

Lay pulled Kris to the side, where Tao and Kai were. Chanyeol lit a big flame in front of Suho, just like they did before. When the first dogger appeared from the corridor, Suho pushed the water through the flame and washed down the herd of doggers down the hall -their flesh scalding and ripping off. Chanyeol ran into the hall once the water stilled, the boiling water didn’t affect his skin. The crisp smell of burning skin wafted the air. They heard a shriek and it suddenly stopped. Chanyeol returned to the resting room, he looked tired and disturbed. Finishing the doggers off was a dirty job but someone had to do it.

“What now?” he asked as he approached the group, he was drenched in water and his hands were resting on his hips.

“I don’t know, I haven’t gone further than this,” Tao answered.

“What happened? Why did you reverse time?” Suho asked.

Tao shook his head. “You don’t want to know. Believe me.”

“We need to find Sehun and Xiumin,” Kai said as he combed his hair backwards, removing some water from it.

“Suho can you stop the indoor rain. It’s annoying,” Chanyeol pouted as he uselessly covered his head.

“I’ll try,” Suho lifted his arms towards the ceiling, for a minute he managed to clog the sprinklers, but the pipeline’s pressure rose, the metal heads popped out and more water poured down.

“, sorry.”

“Never mind, let’s find someplace dry,” Kris scowled.

Kai disappeared and popped up again, now standing behind Chanyeol. “The lobby at block B is dry. You guys could head over there while I’ll find the others.”

“Okay, go but be careful. We don’t know how many boggers are there.” Kris said.

“Wait Kai, come here,” Suho said and removed the water off of Kai’s clothes. The other quickly vanished to avoid getting wet again.

“Alright let’s go,” Kris ordered.

Tao felt relieved even though he was stressed and tired. He was relieved he managed to save Chanyeol, even if the other didn’t even know what happened. Actually no one else had the memory of Chanyeol being eaten up alive, they all began new. A white blank page. Lay could have an inkling of what could’ve happened, but he didn’t have the images engraved in his mind. That was Tao’s burden to bear -the consequence of altering time.

They walked cautiously down the red-lighted corridors, finding their way across block A’s test rooms. They were all shut down closed and protected.

“These bastards had it all planned out,” Chanyeol said annoyed as he tried to open an office door.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Suho said.

The lobby from sector B was spacious it had four connecting hallways, a main desk and two resting areas with a vending machine. The normal lights were on and, most importantly, it was dry. Suho dried the group by removing the water from their clothes and hair. He slid the water through the corridor they came from.

“Much better,” Chanyeol exhaled as he plopped onto a couch at the right resting area. Lay went to sit next to him.

“We can’t let our guards down. We don’t know if there are still some out there,” Tao stressed but sat down next to Lay. What? He was tired too.

“Guys we have to make a plan,” Kris said.

“But how? We don’t even know how many boggers are there. Or where the hell they are,” Chanyeol strained as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I don’t think they are even near the higher floors. The company is not stupid enough to let boggers wander around their headquarters,” Suho reasoned. “No, I bet the boggers are just in our floors.”

“Okay, yeah. That makes sense,” Chanyeol nodded.

“Yeah, but still four floors is a lot,” Kris grimaced.

“I don’t think we should separate,” Tao commented. He had the feeling that if he wasn’t with them and something happened, something bad, then maybe he couldn’t save them.

“I agree,” Lay added. “I need to be close to everyone, just in case.”

“Okay, then we’ll have to explore through all the blocks in all four floors until we’ve eliminated all the damn boggers,” Suho concluded.

“Or we could just send Kai to look around for us,” Chanyeol suggested.

“Call,” Tao lifted his arm as if he were voting.

“We’re not going to make Kai snoop around for us. It could be dangerous,” Suho scolded.

“Actually, it’s not a bad idea,” Kris opined but Suho smacked his arm. “That was unnecessary,” he mumbled as he rubbed the sore spot.

“Kai can help, but we can’t force him to do all the work for us,” Suho reprimanded again.

“Ugh such a saint,” Tao mumbled.

Just then, at the middle of the lobby, Kai appeared with Sehun straddle in his arms, they fell and sat on the floor. Lay immediately ran towards them. Tao and the rest followed to assist. Sehun had tears stained on his face as an afflicted expression took over. He held tightly his left shoulder, where a makeshift bandage was wrapped with cloth and ice.

Lay looked at the bandage bewildered.

“Xiumin’s trademark,” Kai said.

“Hurry, go help him,” Sehun said frustrated as he slapped Kai’s hands off of him. Kai nodded, ruffled Sehun’s hair as he told him to take care and disappeared.

Lay removed the ice pack and bandage. There was a gnarly gash across Sehun’s shoulder. It started from the collar bone all the back to the left scapula.  The cut was deep enough to have lacerated the trapezius muscle. Tao gagged and looked away. There was too much blood for his liking.

“Sehun, it’s healed,” Lay said calmly. Sehun was looking at the ceiling, he clearly didn’t want to see his injury. “Sehun, there’s nothing wrong anymore. No blood. Come on, you should rest.” Lay helped him up and the group moved back to the resting area to sit.

“What happened? How many were they? Were they just boggers or were there doggers as well?-”

“Suho! Let him talk, man,” Kris said as he massaged his temple.

“Four boggers, all dead. Four doggers, one dead.” Sehun rested his elbows on his thighs and tapped impatiently his feet.

“Five boggers? You killed five boggers?” Tao asked astounded.

“Xiumin did most of the work,” he shrugged. “It’s hard to create wind indoors. I nearly got Xiumin hurt because of it.”

“How did you get hurt?” Lay asked.

“A stupid booger jumped me from behind. Nasty piece of ,” he frowned. “Xiumin killed that one too,” he acknowledge while cocking an eyebrow.

“I’m going to need him to teach me,” Chanyeol nodded at his own comment.

“What’s taking Kai so long?” Sehun suddenly asked, his frown deepened, “, they’re probably in trouble.”

“We should go help them. Where are they?” Suho said.

“Sector E second floor, near test room 5,” Sehun quickly informed.

“Okay, Chanyeol, Lay come with me.”

They were about to stand when Kai and Xiumin appeared in the middle of resting area. They roughly fell on top of the wooden coffee table, which broke under their weight and ended with them falling to the ground, wood probing and sticking out at different directions. Kai’s body was sprawled over Xiumin, the latter had his face hidden in the crook of Kai’s neck as he held tightly onto the tan boy.

Kai pushed his weight up with his hands, “Are you okay?” he asked, his face close to Xiumin’s who had one eye closed. “Sorry for the rough landing.”

“It’s okay just get off,” Xiumin huffed and let go of Kai so the other could stand.

Kris and Suho helped Kai take a seat next to Sehun, while Tao and Chanyeol lifted Xiumin up and sat him on a different couch. He had a nasty bite on his left leg, teeth pierced his skin and acid burned the edges. And he had a big scrap near his left eye. Lay went to check on him after Kai shooed him off, telling him that only Xiumin needed help.

“Did a dogger do this?” Lay asked as he was healing Xiumin’s leg. The injured one simply nodded in response.

“Xiumin wasn’t where we left him,” Kai explained to Sehun, “the doggers found him so he ran off. It took me a while to find him. He managed to kill off one of them.”

“Tao lift Xiumin’s shirt, he’s got a piece of wood embedded into his back,” Lay ordered as he was finishing healing Xiumin’s leg.

“Ugh, no I can’t,” Tao shuddered as he saw the injury, “I’m sorry I can’t.”

Chanyeol went to help Lay, he grimaced as he watched Lay pluck a big splinter. Lay then healed other minor injuries including the scrap near the eye and a fissured rib.

“If we keep this up,” Lay said as he stood, dusting his hands off as if saying he worked hard, “I’m going to need to take some energy bars with me so I can keep all of you alive tonight.” He pointed towards the food machine at the corner of the resting area.

Tao walked up to it, pressed some buttons but it didn’t budge. He huffed and kicked the machine. A single energy bar fell to the delivery box.  He bent down to retract it.

“This has to be a joke.”

Kai walked up to Tao. He reached towards the machine and his hand phased through the glass. He began to pull out energy bar after energy bar and passed them to Tao who cradled the snacks to his chest, staring awestruck at Kai.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” he babbled.

“It’s something new I learned,” Kai said modestly as he passed Tao another bar. “I think that’s enough.”

They were all handed an energy bar, Tao ate two and two were stored for later in a Lay’s pockets.

They decided to explore section B before searching through the rest of the building. It didn’t take long to encounter the boggers. There were two roaming around the second floor. Kris came face to face with the first bogger, he quickly reacted with a frontal kick, pushing the bogger backwards. Sehun assisted and blew the creature back with wind. Xiumin reduced its movement by nearly freezing its body temperature. Chanyeol burned the slowed bogger to ashes. That there was ing team work.

They were moving on when Chanyeol approached Tao to give him a high five and incidentally a bogger wanted to high five too, at their faces. Tao pushed Chanyeol to the side when he was nearly slashed in the face. Tao slowed time and side kicked the bogger. Time was normal again. The bogger fell roughly to the ground. Kai popped over it, sitting on a whole desk, he quickly vanished as the glass and wooden desk smashed onto the beast. The impact was hard enough for the bogger to disintegrate.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol said as Kai helped him up.

“We’re a team, don’t stay behind,” he said.

Tao nodded and they went to join the others who almost left the room. They had turned back when they heard the commotion.

Sectors C and D, mid-section of the building, were empty. They found no signs of bogger’s in any floor. It was when they reached the third floor of section F that got real. Four boggers were scattered around the main lobby. The group had to divide to go against them. Suho and Xiumin went towards the biggest one. Kris and Sehun stalled one back. Kai and Lay fought the third while Tao assisted Chanyeol with the fourth.

The nasty creature was aggressive, even if its skin got burned with fire, it kept fighting back. It was hard for Chanyeol to maintain a line of fire when the bogger would pounce at him. Tao ordered the other to get close to him. He held his hand out and held tightly onto Chanyeol’s shoulder. He slowed time and now Chanyeol was able to move normally with him. Chanyeol burned the bogger until it disintegrated into ashes. Time returned to normality.

“Thanks Tao, that was amazing,” he smiled widely.

“No problem.”

“Tao look out!”

Immediately his first reaction was to duck. He avoided the bogger’s stab, but Chanyeol was unlucky. He stayed put and received the attack Tao avoided. Tao was crouched between Chanyeol and the bogger, who had its arm punctured through Chanyeol’s chest.

“!”

Tao returned time. He was standing close to Chanyeol who was trying to burn the fourth bogger. He went up to him, grabbed his shoulder and slowed time so the other could thoroughly burn the creature to ashes. Time was returned to normality.

“Thanks Tao, that was amazing,” Chanyeol smiled widely.

“Move to the side,” Tao said aggressively as he pulled Chanyeol to his right.

“Tao look out!”

He ducked just in time, in a Pǔ Bù stance and kicked the bogger’s right leg with his extended leg. The bogger fell over on top of Chanyeol. The boy threw flames at it to push it off. The bogger staggered backwards, Tao aimed a reversed roundhouse kick at the bogger’s head. Tao spun backwards on one foot, extending the kicking leg and hit the bogger with the heel of his foot. It fell on its back, screeching horrifically. Kai appeared over it with a big shared of broken glass, probably from a desk. He pierced the booger’s chest with the sharp edge, effectively killing it.

“Sorry, it escaped from us,” Kai apologized. He had deep gashes on his hands and arms from holding the glass.

“It’s okay,” Tao said and turned to check on Chanyeol. The lanky guy was sprawled on the floor, his chest had six deep cuts and blood was gushing out surprisingly fast. “Oh , not again,” Tao complained.

He reversed time. He stood near Chanyeol. He wordlessly went up to the other guy and held his shoulder as he slowed time. Chanyeol completely turned the bogger into ashes. Tao returned time to its normal speed.

“Thanks Tao, that-”

Tao harshly pushed Chanyeol to his left. He ducked to the floor before they yelled at him, he used the saved up time to switch positions and lay on his back with his legs retracted to his chest. Once the bogger was over him, he kicked upward with both feet and made the bogger stumble forward, tumbling down until it stopped on its back. Kai appeared with a big shared of broken glass and impaled the creature as he fell on it. It cried horribly and disintegrated.

“Sorry, it escaped from us,” Kai apologized but Tao waved him off.

“Just go get those cuts healed,” he nodded towards Kai’s arms. He nodded and disappeared.

“Wow!  Tao that was awesome. It was like you predicted it all,” Chanyeol beamed amazed.

“How many times do I have to save your skinny ?” Tao said frustrated as he shoved Chanyeol backwards. The other’s smile quickly disappeared and was replaced with confusion.

“But I wasn’t in da-”

“Just give it a thought,” Tao yapped and went towards Lay who was healing Kai.

Tao felt bad about snapping at Chanyeol and unloading his frustration on the other boy. Nothing that happened was really Chanyeol’s fault, but the repetition pissed Tao off. Why couldn’t the guy stay alive during one night? Just one night. But Tao wasn’t going to turn back time to undo his bad behavior. He’ll apologize eventually. Supposedly.

Lay was finishing up with Kai when they heard the screeching of a herd of doggers. Five came in running from the left corridor. Kai ran and vanished mid-way. He popped back with Kris. The taller boy almost was bitten by a dogger. Suho and Xiumin ran back to the group, Kai appeared with Sehun and Chanyeol joined quickly.

Sehun threw a wind current at them, three tumbled backwards. Chanyeol and Suho ran towards the dogger that separated towards the left and used their fire-water combination against it. Xiumin helped Sehun with two doggers while Kris and Kai went for another.

“Come one Lay we can beat it,” Tao encouraged the other, but Lay stood still in daze. “Lay. Lay! Damn it, this is not the time to be daydreaming,” he scolded.

He held Lay’s arm as he slowed time almost to a full stop, just as the dogger jumped in the air towards Lay.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked as Lay finally looked at him with spaced out eyes.

“Kai no scars,” he mumbled almost intelligibly.

“Yeah no scars ‘cause you healed him. Come on snap out of it!”

“No, I mean…” he furrowed his brows and shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Yeah whatever, just finish the damn dogger,” he ordered.  

Lay nodded twice before turning around to face the dogger nearly frozen in the air. It fell infinitesimally towards Lay’s head. Lay stretched out his arm and placed his hand onto the dogger’s chest. He didn’t move for almost a minute then he retracted his arm and pulled Tao to step aside with him.

“It’s done,” he said eerily calm.

Time returned to its normality. The dogger fell lifelessly to the floor. It’s body disintegrated.

“What did you do?”

“I stopped its heart,” his voice was hollow.

Lay’s expression was unreadable. Even if they all had to end the life of a monstrous creature, it was the method that defined you.

Suho and Chanyeol boiled the dogger. Xiumin froze their bodies and Sehun sliced them with compressed air. Kris and Kai used objects to attack the dogger, and then Chanyeol helped finish them off.

When the killing spree was over, Lay healed Kris’ arm and leg. He was bitten by the dogger. They took a break, giving Lay a moment to eat a snack. Stopping a heart took a lot of energy. They felt gloomy, dirty and tired. Kai checked the fourth floor, there were traces of doggers, but apparently they were the same that barged into the lobby.

Kris went to sit next to Tao and handed him a half-eaten energy bar. The other wordlessly accepted the treat with a smile and wolfed it down in two bites.

“I knew you were going to be hungry,” Kris chuckled. “So I saved that for you.”

Tao wanted to hide his blush but he was too tired to care. “Thanks,” he said with his mouth full. Kris nodded and rested his head against the couch. “When do you think this will be over?”

“They’ll probably let us now with something obvious.”

“But I’m so tired. I just want to go to bed,” Tao whined.

“Me too,” Kris said with an empathetic smile. “What time is it?”

“5:13 am,” Tao responded. “This started at midnight.”

“."

A/N:

I’ve got to give credit to Katicha for giving me the idea of a surprise trial during the night. I had planned a trial for this part, but a surprise trial in da house sounded way better, so I changed it. I hope you guys like it. And kudos to Katicha for the input.

And hello to janetngu37, Katicha, Sushii_Annlu, EXO-L_GOT7, Kuud3r3Baka and GlazedDounuts thanks for subscribing. Welcome to bogger land.