Oh, no, no, no, no.

“Wait!” he called out but no one paid attention.

Oh, they’re going to hate me for this.

Jongdae grabbed the manual and shoved it into the pocket of his jacket. It fitted uncomfortably, but he didn’t dare leave it behind. He dashed across the room, passing between the members until he reached the door and slammed it shut.

“We can’t leave,” he declared.

“Are you ing kidding me?” Chanyeol bellowed, eyes raged as if he was about to spit out fire.

“Get out of the way,” Kris ordered, eyes angered.

“We have to get the hell out of here,” Kai warned.

Suho stepped beside Kai, his expression mixed between anger and confusion. “Kai go get our bags, make sure all our supplies are in them,” he instructed to the teleporter. Then he turned his focus on the boy at the door. “Jongdae, open the door now,” he ordered dead serious.

Jongdae furiously shook his head, “I can’t,” he said placing his arms against the door frame.

“Damn it Jongdae, this is serious!” Suho snapped, stomping his foot.

“We have to get out before gets worse,” Luhan gritted his teeth.

“Move, damn it!” Sehun yelled horrified, sending a blow of wind straight at Jongdae’s face.

They’re going to kill me, Jongdae thought terrified as he was slapped silly with air.

“Sehun,” Xiumin warned, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the side to avoid any other attack.

“I can’t let us leave yet,” Jongdae explained with a huff, his hair all messed up.

“The are you talking about?” Chanyeol barked.

“Why not?” Lay questioned.

“You told me to make sure we stay,” Jongdae pointed accusingly at Tao.

“Me?” said person pointed at himself. “What? I never ing said that.”

“You told me when you were blond,” he said serious.

Tao’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor in disbelief. “He’s insane,” Tao exasperated, raising his hands into the air.

“Enough! Move,” Kris demanded, stepping closer to tower over the smaller boy.

“No,” Jongdae squeaked.

Kris grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shoved him to the side. Jongdae quickly stood up and stimulated an electromagnetic charge through the atoms in his body. Starting from his legs, he transferred particle momentum into bundles of quantum energy –electromagnetic fields spurred to life, attracting more electrons from the earth, gaining energy as they coursed through his body. Using the additional energy fields, he moved his body so fast that when he stood by Kris, he used the energy in excess to forcefully push the taller boy away. Kris ended up knocking Suho and Luhan down with him.

“Have you lost your mind?” Tao hollered as he and Lay went to help them up and check for any injuries. Luhan had hit his head, while Suho nearly sprained his wrist.  

“What is wrong with you?” Sehun wailed, pushing Jongdae back against the door with a forceful gust of wind –Jongdae had to cover his face with his arms.

“Enough,” Xiumin said as he stopped Sehun from attacking any further. “Jongdae, this is completely unacceptable,” he spoke with cold demeanor, while keeping Sehun in place.

“Let go,” the air bender complained.

“You can’t just go attacking us. We’re a team for crying out loud,” Suho reprimanded with anger as he patted his pants.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Jongdae said nervously. “But I can’t let you go yet.”

“Why not?” Baekhyun asked.

“I… I’m not sure,” he admitted.

“That’s it,” Luhan stepped up, raising his hand towards the boy guarding the door.

Holy , he’s going to kill me. I’m dead, I know it. Chen you’ve gotten this far. Curse stupid blond Tao for making me do this.

“Stop,” Xiumin warned.

“Move,” Luhan threatened.

“Or what, you’ll shove me?” Jongdae bravely challenged.

“I can do more than that,” Luhan intimidated.

“Stop fighting,” Suho yelled annoyed.

Jongdae felt the strangest sensation ever –yet it was all too familiar. He felt himself fall into a dark bottomless pit as his insides were squeezed and the air pushed out. It took him a few seconds to understand what happened as he tried to regain his breath.

No, he thought as he saw the members run out the door at the opposite side of the room. Then firm arms wrapped around his waist and legs. He was hoisted up onto someone’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you can manage?” he heard Kai ask as his eyes met black fabric.

“Yes,” D.O replied.

“Okay,” Kai agreed. “Suho, Sehun, Tao take the backpacks!”

“Let’s go,” D.O said.

“Let go of me,” Jongdae whined as he squirmed in D.O’s hold. He struggled between trying to punch the other’s back and holding on to not fall.

“Play along. Trust me,” D.O whispered as he held Jongdae tighter to stop him from squirming.

Play along? Oh I’ll play along; he thought as he removed a glove from his hand and sparked his captor’s back.

“Ouch!” D.O jumped as he was shocked. “Don’t do that!”

“Then put me down,” Jongdae as he shocked D.O again.

“, stop it!”

“Put me down!” Jongdae was lowered to stand on the ground, but D.O kept a firm hold onto his shoulders. “Let go,” he complained as he tried to pry D.O’s hands off.

“Listen to me, damn it,” the other snapped at him. He looked over his shoulder, making sure that the group was far enough. “I know we are meant to stay, but we have to keep moving.”

“That’s a contradiction,” Jongdae retorted with a frown.

D.O rolled his eyes, his temper running short. “We must leave the Hanok, but not the area.”

“What?”

“Just come,” he said as he grabbed his gloved hand and pulled him to walk.

“Wait D.O, what do you mean?” Jongdae asked utterly confused, but the other offered no reply as they hurried to reach the group outside. “Wait, did blond Tao speak to you too?”

“Kris, the birds,” he heard Lay mention.

What birds? He thought as he looked up to the sky. The big flock of birds he saw earlier was flying back; southeast this time.

“They’re trapped just like us,” Kris remarked.

Oh , we’re outside.

“D.O, stop!” he stomped his feet to stop being pulled by the other. “Answer me,” he demanded.

“What?” the other said hushed as he turned to look at him.

“Did you see blond Tao?” he asked as quiet as possible.

“No.”

“Then how do you know we’re meant to stay?” he asked skeptically.

D.O bit his lip before speaking. “I’m not supposed to tell,” he said and began pulling him again.

“What?”

“Guys, this way,” Suho directed towards the back gate of the main wall.

“D.O come on. Tell me,” he pleaded but D.O shushed him.

“D.O can you spot anyone?” Kai asked as he appeared at their side.

“This place is empty,” the latter responded.

“What? How?” Luhan asked perplexed.

“Why would they bail on us if they wanted us to stay?” Xiumin questioned unbelievingly.

“It must have been a hoax,” Baekhyun pondered. “Maybe it was all a trap from the start.”

“But for what?” Lay wondered.

“Beats me,” Baekhyun shrugged.

“Where do we go now?” Chanyeol asked as they were safely out of the Kim estate.

“This way,” D.O instructed as he walked towards the left –still dragging Jongdae with him.

“No,” Kris countered. “We’re going towards the right,” he ordered.

“Why?” D.O asked miffed.

“Because I don’t trust you,” the other simply declared.

“This is not the time for this,” the smaller declared, finally letting go of Jongdae. “I feel this is the safest option,” D.O explained.

“You feel it is? You know what’s going on, D.O?” Kris challenged.

“No, I don’t,” D.O confessed.

Kris narrowed his eyes. “We’re heading right, it’s final,” he ordered and began to lead the group towards said direction.

“Damn it,” D.O cursed under his breath.

“You know what’s happening?” Jongdae asked from over his shoulder.

“Jongdae, not now,” D.O said annoyed, pushing him back.

“But you know what’s happening. At least you’ve got a feeling, right? Or did you know from before?”

“Chen shut up,” he barked back.

“Chen?” Jongdae scrunched his brows. Quickly he grabbed D.O’s narrow shoulders to spin him around. “Are you from the future?” he asked dead serious.

D.O looked at him incredulously, his jaw opened in disbelief. “No, I’m not,” he answered while pushing Jongdae’s hands away.

“Then why’d you call me Chen?”

“Cos you don’t listen when I call you Jongdae,” D.O explained moodily.

“What’s going on?” Kai asked as he appeared next to them again. They had fallen behind from the group.

“Nothing,” they both said at the same time, earning a disapproving look from Kai.

“Why did you suggest left?” he turned his attention to D.O instead. “Can you perceive something out there?”

“I think I felt a bo-”

They heard a horrendous shriek, one Jongdae felt unimaginable. A nightmare pulled into reality.

“What was that?” he asked; eyes wide and heart racing in trepidation.

“,” was all Kai said as before holding them both and teleporting them away.

Jongdae hated the sensation of being into some other dimension, just to pop out someplace else. They stood next to the group and Jongdae immediately looked up to where they all were staring. At the rooftop of a squared building there was a creature crouched on the ledge –it’s excessive grey skin dangled from its arms as a protruding curved appendage elongated from its elbows. Jongdae stared horrified at the monster with long rawboned arms, bent over as it supported itself on the roof. The monster’s hands had three long fingers with black claws and at the outer side of the wrist was an extra appendage, a long convex claw. The face, what could count as a face, was gaunt with excessive skin covering its features. The jaw was elongated downward with black fangs jutting out from its lipless mouth.

“Wha-what is that?” he asked nearly voiceless, his heart beating erratically against his ribcage.

The long creature stood up tall and they were able to notice three holes at the entrance of its trachea forming a borderless-inverted triangle. Air wheezed through its open airways and his ribs jutted out with each breath it took.

“I don’t know,” D.O finally replied, staring petrified at the creature.

The monster screeched horribly as it extended its arms. Thin skinned wings formed from its arms. The skin covered up from the extra claw on its wrist, to the tip of the elbow appendage and all the way towards its lower back -looking horribly similar to a bat. Jumping from the ledge, it dove down in flight towards the group.

“Watch out!” Kris screamed.

Jongdae ran and cowered to the side, covering his head as the monster flew over them. The urge to scream was too powerful to hold back. Xiumin was the first to react. Confronting the volitant creature he compressed atmospheric water into a sharp icicle and managed to pierce his weapon through the middle of its chest as the monster flew down to attack him, spitting out goo.

“Lay hurry!” Suho cried out.

What happened? Jongdae wondered as he uncovered his ears –the creature cried horribly as it agonized with the ice impaled through its body. Jongdae couldn’t stop staring at it as it thrashed on the floor. He was paralyzed staring at the monster, his anxiety making his insides stir up.

“Holy !” he jumped surprised as the dead body vanished in the air.

“That happens,” Sehun quickly told him as he ran towards the rest, huddled around Xiumin. Jongdae had to tiptoe over the other boys to see the ice bender lying on the ground with Suho and Lay helping him.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Lay cooed as he rubbed Xiumin’s chest.

“That ing hurt,” Xiumin huffed out, hands covering his face.

“What happened?” Kai asked concerned.

“It was goo,” Suho answered.

“But of a higher concentration,” Lay added.

“That ing bogger spat it out,” Xiumin complained as he sat up. Jongdae noticed his eyes were watery.

“It was a bogger?” Jongdae asked frightened.

“Yeah, a new one,” Luhan said through gritted teeth.

“A flying bogger,” Kris said gravely, clenching his jaw.

“Kris?” Kai asked worried, holding onto the taller boy’s arm.

Kris shook his head as he bit his lip. “We have to keep moving,” he determined.

“Where?” Chanyeol asked.

“Anywhere. We’ve got to find a way out,” he replied as he began to walk. The group followed.

“Kai,” Baekhyun suddenly said. “You could show us the way out, right?”

“Yeah,” the tanned boy nodded. “But it still wouldn’t be enough. We can’t just walk out, they’ll chase us.”

“We need to move fast,” Sehun said.

“All of us,” Luhan remarked. “Running around won’t be enough.”

“We need to find a way to get us all out and fast,” Suho commented, following behind Kris.

“What about that?” Lay asked pointing at the wrecked car. “It has wheels.”

“It’s a car, a vehicle. I've read about them,” Jongdae remembered. “Yeah, these things can go pretty fast.”

“We’re going to need a bigger vehicle,” Tao raised a brow.

“Jongdae,” Xiumin turned to look at him with wide eyes. “You –look out!”

Turning around, he felt his heart pop out of his chest as a tall lanky white ragged skin bogger stood before him. Wide mouth with black dagger teeth and long black claws was all he saw before being forcefully pulled to the side.

“Don’t just stand there!” D.O reprimanded as he helped him escape.

“What is that?” he yelled as he backed away with D.O.

Looking back he saw the wrecked car from before fall on top of the monster, smashing it to death.

“A bogger,” Kai replied as he stood by the fallen car and watched the creature disintegrate.

“A normal bogger?” Suho asked.

“Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t those things be obsolete by now?” Tao quipped.

“Guys pay attention,” Sehun said concerned. “There must be more out there.”

A low wailing resonated, gradually becoming louder and higher pitched. The long sonorous siren was startling, scaring the boys as they looked around frantically searching for its source. The wailing of the siren died out only to revive once more, imposing its blaring sound throughout the town.

Jongdae covered his ears as he looked around terrified. Chanyeol was doing the same and had yelled out something, but couldn’t be heard. The siren died out once more and everyone stood still -Jongdae was afraid that the slightest movement could trigger the alarm back to life.

“Wha-what’s going on?” Baekhyun asked; eyes wide and scared.

“No ing idea,” Chanyeol said, looking around inquisitively.

“You guys don’t think this could be,” Luhan began to question, but stopped as they heard rustling further in the west alley. “That this might be a t-”

Jongdae felt his stomach stir as he heard another horrid screech.

“,” Baekhyun said, covering his ears as well.

“I knew it,” Sehun frowned as he stood in a defensive stance -preparing for any attack.

“How many?” Kai asked to D.O.

The latter crouched down and patted the ground. “,” he said looking up with wide eyes. “They’re everywhere.”

“Guys huddle up,” Kris commanded. “Back against each other, in a circle!”

“Come,” Kai said holding his hand, just to jump away. “ Jongdae!”

“Sorry,” he quickly apologized, hastily putting his glove back on. “I’m nervous,” he admitted shakily as he struggled to put his gloves on with his trembling hands.

Kai looked at him with care. “It’s okay,” he said rubbing his hurt hand. “Just be careful,” Jongdae furiously nodded in response.

“Suho at your left!” Kris informed.

“Guys hurry!” Xiumin called them over to the circle.

Holy ! He thought as he watched a bogger levitate in the air and had its head snapped like a twig. He looked at Luhan horrified, the other was unaffected by how simply he killed the monster.

Standing next to Kai and Xiumin, he felt a little more secured. But he had no idea what to do as he stared horrified at the fight beginning to occur in the street. Kris was in the air and knocked down a bogger with a descendant kick. D.O walked out of the circle to smash the said bogger with a rock. Luhan stopped a flying bogger from reaching D.O and Chanyeol fired it down as soon as Kai teleported D.O away. Jongdae couldn’t watch as the bogger was burned alive –its agonizing screams were deafening.

Turning around Jongdae saw that Sehun kept small boggers that ran on their four legs inside an air vortex.

“What are those?” he asked.

“Doggers,” Suho answered before attacking the captured creatures. Stepping beside Sehun, he whipped out the water from the doggers, dehydrating them on spot.

Jongdae gulped as he watched the mummified doggers disintegrate.

This is too much. This is too much, he thought repeatedly as he shook his head.

“Look out!” Baekhyun yelled beside them.

Jongdae jumped as a black bogger popped out of a mist beside him. He froze in spot as those round raw eyes stared back him –its skull like face was just as terrifying as the long sword-like white claws.

“Move,” Suho desperately said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him aside as the bogger lifted his arm to attack. A bright beam of light hit the black bogger’s chest, killing it in an instant.

“Are you guy’s okay?” Baekhyun asked concerned as he approached them.

“Yeah, thanks” Suho said gratefully.

“Suho!” Xiumin called and said boy ran to his side.

“What was that?” Jongdae asked, one hand against his stirred chest and the other pointing where the black bogger used to be.

“A shadow bogger,” Baekhyun answered. “They teleport like Kai, so be watchful because they can pop out at any moment,” he coached. Jongdae bit his lower lip and quickly nodded. Baekhyun looked around before holding his shoulders to gain his full attention. “Look, you’ve got to be careful. You can’t just stand there and do nothing. The guys can’t be saving your all the time, you’ve got to help out too,” he lectured.

“Sorry,” he quickly apologized and then shut his mouth tight -he could feel himself wanting to cry, but he fought against it.

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun said tilting his head to the side, while patting Jongdae’s neck. “It’s terrifying, I know. But, damn it, it’s about surviving. You’ve gotta fight Jongdae,” he said serious, both hands holding onto Jongdae’s neck. “What can you do?”

“I, I can’t,” he blinked, a tear escaping unwantedly. “I can’t control it.”

Baekhyun his lip as he frowned. “Okay, then run Jongdae,” he instructed. “Get out of their way, be evasive and just help out as you can, okay?”

“Yeah,” he nodded as he agreed.

“Good, come on,” Baekhyun lead the way, holding his hand tightly.

They didn’t get far before another bogger appeared. Baekhyun was quick to shoot it with his laser while Jongdae ran, pulling the light boy with him. A shadow bogger appeared to their right. Jongdae quickly stopped their tracks and turned to flee. Baekhyun took the chance to strike the black bogger down.

“ Jongdae,” Baekhyun abruptly stopped. “I can’t run that fast,” he said breathless.

“Sorry,” he apologized for the nth time. “Look out!” he yelled as a shadow bogger appeared behind Baekhyun.

Baekhyun turned as he raised his hands, flashing a bright light at the bogger. Stunned by the brightness, the bogger aimlessly flailed its arms, to which Baekhyun tried to run away from it, but tripped down. Jongdae quickly reacted, igniting electromagnetic fields in his body and using the extra energy from the electrons to run faster than normal. Rapidly he shoved the black bogger far away, protecting Baekhyun from potentially being sliced.

“Wow,” Baekhyun blinked. “That was fast.”

Jongdae smiled as he helped him up, but fright overtook him once more when Kris yelled at them. A grey flying bogger dove down towards them, gaining speed quickly. Jongdae’s only idea was to help Baekhyun stand, but the other had turned around on the floor and quickly aimed his laser at the monster.

“,” Baekhyun said as the lifeless body began to fall directly towards him.

Jongdae quickly hooked his hands under Baekhyun’s armpits and pulled him up to stand. Kris appeared from their left and kicked the grey bogger’s body to the side right before it was about to fall on them.

“That was close,” he commented as the bogger disintegrated. “Be more careful, alright?”

“Thanks,” they both said at the same time.

“What the !” they heard Chanyeol yell.

Turning to their left they saw that further away there was a pinkish skinned bogger. It looked like a normal bogger, but with a smaller head and dark small circled eyes with no sclera. It was using a diffuser mask around the buccal and nasal area. But what stood out most about it, were the two protruding subcutaneous tubes that went from between its jutted shoulder blades and extended on the outer side of its arms. The opening ended at its lanky wrists of its clawless hands, and fire was expulsed at the end of the tubes.

“A fire bogger?” Kris said incredulous as he watched Chanyeol beat fire with fire.

“This is getting worse,” Baekhyun commented as Xiumin ran to aid the fire bender.

Kris suddenly looked up, “Luhan!” he called out.

‘I’m on it,’ he heard Luhan’s voice in his head. Looking up he saw three grey boggers flying their direction. An invisible force held the together and shoved them to the side.

“Be careful,” Kris said as he left to help out the rest.

“Let’s go,” Baekhyun said and Jongdae followed.

They got to where D.O was; he was fighting two doggers. Running away from the quick pair, D.O collected a mass of rock and threw it back towards them. He managed to hit one square in the face.

“Watch my back,” Baekhyun instructed as he positioned his hands as if he was holding a gun; forefinger pointing forward while his thumb was raised upward. Closing one eye, he aimed a ray of light to the dogger’s thorax; effectively killing the beast.

“Thanks,” D.O said as he approached them. “Those damn things are too fast,” he said wiping the sweat off his forehead.

“No problem,” Baekhyun said.

“Behind you,” D.O said and ran towards said direction.

Two boggers were there. D.O fearlessly approached them, he stomped the floor creating a crack at their feet. Clasping his hands together, the fragmented earth enclosed around the bogger’s ankles, causing them to fall. Taking advantage of their weak state, D.O made two stakes of rock appear from under the fallen bodies, piercing through them.

Holy , Jongdae’s body trembled from the outstanding attack.

“D.O!” he heard Lay yell. A bogger was chasing the healer, heading towards D.O’s direction. The smaller boy lifted his hands while stomping the floor and a small earth wall rose from the ground, tripping the monster. Lay seized the moment and turned around to face the bogger. Jumping on top of it, Lay placed his hands on the boggers head until it disintegrated under him.

“Lay run!” D.O screamed at him.

Jongdae didn’t understand why until he saw the black bogger pop out of its shadow, just behind Lay. Lay’s face screamed out fear as he realized what was happening, but then, in a split second, pacified as if he didn’t mind being in danger. Jongdae couldn’t stand to watch the bogger slice Lay while the other did nothing to defend himself. And before he understood what he was doing, he ran full speed towards the defenseless boy. Before the black bogger managed to attack, Jongdae tackled Lay out of the way, causing them both to roll away. Jongdae looked up from over Lay’s shoulder; his back hurt from hitting the ground. The black bogger was there, but a beam of laser hit it to death.

“Uff,” Jongdae breathed out. “That was close.”

“You saved me,” Lay said gratefully, hugging him tight as he sat on the other’s lap.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Jongdae smiled, feeling great that he accomplished something right.

“It wasn’t necessary though. I would’ve survived anyway,” Lay said passively.

Jongdae frowned at the other’s statement, quickly remembering his immortal condition. “Just because you’d survive doesn’t mean you should let yourself get hurt,” he countered, feeling concerned that the other didn’t worry about his own safety.

Lay looked down at him with no detectable emotions. Jongdae gulped at he stared into those void eyes. But then Lay smiled, eyes glittering with affection. He brushed back Jongdae’s hair and then caressed his cheek. Jongdae blinked as he felt his anxiety calm down, but at the same time he felt warmth fill his chest and his stomach titillate. Slowly he began to smile, enchanted by the tender feeling inside.

“Enough Lay,” D.O laughed as he pulled him off of Jongdae -causing a brusque stop to the fuzzy feeling.

“Thanks,” Lay said again as he helped Jongdae stand up.

“Um, no problem,” Jongdae smiled widely –until he felt a pat on his . “Hey,” he said flustered.

Lay simply smiled, showing off his dimple. He didn’t have the time to explain himself as Kai suddenly appeared to teleport him away.

“Is running all you can do?” D.O asked him once they were alone. “Aren’t you supposed to be lightning?”

“Umm, yeah but,” he replied insecurely –the look on D.O’s face made him wonder if he was angry at him. “I, um.”

“Well?” D.O crossed his arms impatient as he looked around, making sure no bogger would jump at them.

“I’m not good at controlling it,” he admitted.

“Can you at least try?” D.O asked kindly this time.

“Maybe.”

“Just do it,” he said before taking off to help Tao against a bogger.

Jongdae looked down at his covered hands –the black gloves contrasting against his light skin. Come on Chen, give it a try. Touching his chest he felt the static agitate. Just keep it simple and you can manage, he encouraged as he took his gloves off and stored them in his empty pocket.

A strong waft of wind pushed him back, causing him to fall. Startled, he looked up to see Sehun approach him, his arms moving smoothly as he directed the course of the wind. Then circling his hands, Sehun extended them outwards. Jongdae turned around to see the fire bogger squirm as its breath was taken away from it. Slowly it died until it disappeared.

“Dude, you can’t be standing around without paying attention,” Sehun reprimanded, standing a few meters away.

“Sorry,” he apologized as he stood back up. “Behind you!” he yelled as he saw something black approach them.

Sehun quickly covered his body with a compressed air armor -a film of airy white surrounded his body. He turned around raising his arms over his head as the bogger jumped out of its mist, lifting its sword-like claw to attack. Jongdae screamed as the blade swept down and grazed the pressurized armor -a scraping sound was heard.

“Sehun!” he screamed as he saw the other fall.

While running towards them, Jongdae rubbed his hands together charging electricity. He extended his attack as he approximated the bogger and used the electromagnetic pulse to destabilize its vital organs. The ionized air channeled a spark of electricity, extending an electrical current towards the shadow bogger’s chest. The bogger fell back as the high voltage managed to kill it. Jongdae gulped hard as he watched the black bogger disintegrate, feeling freaked out knowing he was the cause of its death.

Sehun propelled his body up off the ground, standing next to Jongdae. He grabbed Jongdae’s shoulder to gain his attention, who was staring petrified at the now empty spot.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sehun asked concerned.

“I killed it,” Jongdae said in disbelief.

“Yeah, it was necessary,” Sehun calmly rubbed his shoulder before letting go.

“It was necessary,” Jongdae repeated to himself, letting the idea sink in. He understood it though, it was what Baekhyun had said –it’s about survival.

“And your attack was pretty cool,” he complimented.

Jongdae smiled satisfied, feeling proud that he managed to help out. But his smiled quickly vanished as he remembered the other nearly got decapitated. “Are you hurt? Didn’t it slice you? Where did it hit you?” Jongdae quickly asked as he circled around him, looking for any signs of an injury. But he didn’t see any blood, not even the backpack had a scratch.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Sehun assured, waving off the matter as something else caught his attention. “Look out for the mist,” he instructed as a second shadow bogger approached. Sehun searched around them as he compressed air between his hands.

A mist appeared to Sehun’s left. The taller boy turned to face the creature as it appeared from its mist. Quickly Sehun pierced air through its chest. But then two more shadows appeared next to them.

“Watch out!” Sehun yelled as he prepared his next attack.

As soon as the black boggers emerged, they were pulled up and held in the air by an invisible force. Sehun quickly adapted his attack and sliced them both with compressed air.

“Are you alright?” Luhan asked as he got closer to them.

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Sehun informed.

“I heard your name,” Luhan said, clearly worried as he checked Sehun for any injuries.

“I said I’m okay,” Sehun complained as he stopped the other’s inspection. “Jongdae just got worried.”

“What happened?” Suho asked as he appeared with Kai, both looking concerned.

“He’s okay,” Luhan quickly told them.

“Look out!” they heard Kris from above.

At their right a pink bogger was running towards their direction. Luhan pushed the bogger, making its range of fire miss them. Sehun created a vortex around them, shielding them from any attacks. Suho quickly prepared himself, collecting atmospheric water, as Luhan went against a flying bogger that began to chase after Kris. The fire bogger got closer, but its flames were buffeted by Sehun’s wind.  At Suho’s command, Kai teleported them both out of the vortex to stand behind the bogger. Suho wrapped the bogger into a mass of water before it had the chance to throw fire at them. Suho kept the monster captive inside as Sehun stopped the vortex. Then the water around the pink bogger froze, killing the monster in an ice prison.

“You guys okay?” Xiumin asked as he ran closer to the group.

“Yeah,” Kai said.

“And Sehun?” he asked, eyes searching for said person.

“I’m fine,” he exasperated rather embarrassed.

“Geez, I was worried,” Xiumin said offended.

Sehun glared at Jongdae. “It’s all your fault,” he grumbled.

“What? I was scared,” Jongdae said defensively.

“So everyone’s okay?” Suho asked as Kris landed next to him.

“Yeah,” they all agreed.

“Ah!” they heard someone scream in pain.

Kai looked towards the direction of the cry and immediately teleported away. Kris flew up, Xiumin ran and the rest followed. Jongdae tripped, falling to the ground. He picked up the discarded old can that caused his fall. Where the hell did this come from? -he thought as he tossed it away.

Jongdae felt lost, not sure of what to do, as he wandered behind the rest. They reached the other end of the street. Chanyeol was firing against five fire boggers; he was trying to keep them back from attacking the others. D.O was lying on the ground with Lay kneeling over him and Kai standing next to them, while Baekhyun was covering them from the boggers coming out from the west alley. Tao yelled something at Kris, Kris went to Kai and Kai teleported to where the rest were just to take Suho with him. With Tao’s aid, Suho managed to counter against the fire boggers -but to Jongdae it all happened in a flash as Tao manipulated time.

Sehun, Xiumin and Luhan went to help Baekhyun against the boggers. Everyone was busy dealing with a bogger as Lay took care of D.O’s fire wounds.

Jongdae stood still as he watched the rest work hard trying to keep each other alive and safe from any attack.

More boggers appeared from the east, Kai and Kris went to help out Sehun, Luhan and Baekhyun against them.

I have to do something, he bitterly thought as he felt useless among the rest. He went to help Xiumin, but the other had dealt with the boggers already. He went to help Lay, but he kept his distance –he didn’t dare look at how bad D.O’s wounds were.

“I can’t believe this!” he heard Chanyeol say enraged as he walked up to Lay with Tao. “Damn those ing fire boggers.”

“Calm down, it’s not your fault,” Tao tried to settle.

“If feels like it,” Chanyeol said loudly, frowning as he looked down at D.O. “How is he? It’s worse that what happened to Kris?”

Lay looked up at him. “Honestly? Much worse,” he said passively and then continued to heal the injured one.

“Nearly half his abdomen and his left arm are severely burned,” Xiumin said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “It’s really not good.”

“!” he spat out as he pulled the strands of his hair.

“ man, calm down,” Tao reprimanded, taking Chanyeol by the shoulders. “It’s not the same. Those monsters are nothing like you, it’s not the same. Get that through your ing skull.”

“You don’t get it. You never will until it happens to you,” Chanyeol said dryly, turning away from Tao.

Kai appeared and immediately went to check on D.O. He didn’t say anything as he stared at the unconscious boy. Jongdae saw him clench his fists and breathe in deep before turning away to speak with Chanyeol.

“I need your help,” he blankly said and teleported the taller boy away with him.

 

“Baekhyun watch out!” he heard Kris yell.

Baekhyun had ran to the left side, leaving Xiumin and Tao to protect Lay and D.O. By Baekhyun’s right two shadow boggers appeared. He was quick enough to use his laser attack against them, but above him approached a grey bogger while a fire bogger ran towards him from behind.

“,” he saw Baekhyun curse as he turned around to fight off the pink bogger.

Jongdae felt his chest clench as he realized that the other hadn’t noticed the flying bogger diving to attack. Mustering all the courage he had, Jongdae impulsed his body with super speed while accumulating voltage as he excited his atoms and attracted more electrons. Using the extra energy, he transferred it as electricity sparking out from the tip of his fingers. He aimed up, electrocuting the bogger with high voltage, but something went wrong.

His heart sank into a bottomless pit as he realized the current of electricity outstretched towards the earth, conducting electricity towards the closest highest object. And the tallest thing standing near the current was Baekhyun. A current had conducted directly towards the other’s head. Baekhyun gave out a guttural cry as he raised his hands, beams of energetic laser shot up to the sky. A loud crack was heard, resounding gravely.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae gasped as he ran next to the fallen boy. “Lay,” he called desperately as he knelt beside the unconscious boy. He wanted to touch him, to make sure he was still breathing -still alive. But he didn’t dare to use his bare hands, fearing he might hurt him even more. “Baekhyun? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he cried as cupped his mouth. “Lay,” he called out laboriously. Then Baekhyun moved; he stirred on the floor as he coughed out. “Lay!”

In an instant Lay appeared with Kai.

“What happened?” Lay asked as he examined the injured one. “He’s okay,” he quickly informed.

Jongdae breathed out in relief, hand against his aching heart as he felt self-blame eat him up.

“What happened?” Kai asked again, concerned and impatient.

“I, I didn’t mean to,” Jongdae stammered, wiping away the tears. “I was just trying to help.”

“Okay, okay,” Kai tried to calm him down, but hesitated in touching him. “What did you do?”

“I shot electricity to the bogger, but a current outstretched and hit Baekhyun,” he quickly said.

“He’ll be… fine?” Lay said uncertain as he frowned.

Baekhyun woke up and sat up quickly, chest heaving as he recovered his senses. He looked around, but made no signs of recognition. He repeatedly blinked as he touched his face, and then looked around disconcerted.

“Can you see?” Lay asked.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he heard the other speak. He felt forward touching Lay’s face to reassure he was there. “No,” he answered breathlessly as he began to rub his eyes.

A shriek was heard close by, Kai quickly went to get rid of the menace.

“Stop doing that,” Lay ordered and then placed his thumbs over the other’s eyelids, smoothing outwards. Then he held the back of Baekhyun’s head, placing his hands towards occipital lobe.

Jongdae felt Kai appear beside him. He looked towards where the bogger was and saw that it had a wooden plank crossing through its body. It didn’t look as if it was forced inside like it would be if it was impaled, but rather looked as if the wooden plank had appeared inside of the monster.

“How about now?” Lay asked as he removed his hands. “Better?”

Baekhyun opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the brightness. “I…” he looked around tentatively. “Yeah, better,” he smiled. “Thanks.”

“Do you have any pain?”

“Guys, what happened?” Chanyeol asked as he approached them with Kris.

“Jongdae electrocuted Baekhyun by accident,” Kai bluntly replied.

“What?” Chanyeol boomed, stepping forward only to be stopped by Kris.

“By accident,” Kris reiterated.

“Thanks,” Jongdae mumbled.

“Well?” Lay insisted to Baekhyun.

“No,” Baekhyun said confused after feeling himself. “Not at all.”

“How?” Jongdae asked perplexed.

“I think you managed to conduct the electricity out of your body,” Lay poorly explained.

“Like Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked, looking down at his hands. “The diodes,” he realized.

“Those laser mechanisms thingy?” Chanyeol asked.

“Oh,” Kai hummed understandingly. “So electrical energy was absorbed and transformed into light, then transferred as laser. So Baekhyun acted like a conductor and the diodes served as an energy outlet,” he surmised.

“Right,” Jongdae agreed impressed.

“So that’s what hit the top of the dome?” Kris asked pointed up. “The laser?”

Jongdae frowned and looked up. In the middle of the bright blue sky were ten messy lines –the lines crossed and collided into a center and sunlight would refract through the cracks.

Then Jongdae felt a freezing cold blizzard current swift pass him. Xiumin and Sehun combined their abilities to eliminate the group of boggers approaching from the back, while Luhan dealt with the two flying boggers nearing where they were.

“What the hell guys?” Tao yelled at them as he reached them with Suho and D.O –the latter was completely healed and showed no signs of having been hurt. “Why are you just standing there?” he reprimanded.

“We’ve got to get moving. There’s more coming from the right,” D.O informed.

“From the right?” Kris asked skeptically as he looked towards that direction.

“He’s not lying,” Baekhyun defended as he stood up. “I can see them,” he said rubbing one eye.

“What?” Tao was confused as he looked towards the same direction –no bogger in sight. “How?”

“Radiation heat,” Baekhyun replied.

“Infrared,” Kai clarified.

“How?” Chanyeol said impressed.

“Either Jongdae’s aim or Lay’s magic,” Baekhyun presumed. “Or both.”

“We have to move,” D.O insisted.

“Let’s go,” Kris ordered, heading towards the direction D.O suggested.

Everyone jogged together as a group, keeping an eye out for any boggers that lurked around. Jongdae took the chance to apologize to Baekhyun.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,” Baekhyun smiled.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he looked down and laughed. “It felt so weird though. I thought my body had turned into soup.”

“What is that?” they heard Tao ask further in front.

Sharing confused gazes, Jongdae and Baekhyun hurried to the rest. They all stood staring at a wall of a wrecked house at the end of the street. On the pale colored wall there were black lines spray painted on it. It was an arrow pointing towards the direction of the Hanok –to the left. And above it was and a drawing of a hexagon, with a small horizontal line at the mid-left vertex and an x crossing the entire middle.

“This has to be some kind of joke,” Kris exasperated as he looked away from the graffiti.

“Should we follow?” Chanyeol asked.

“Are you nuts?” Tao scoffed.

“Let’s just keep going this way,” D.O said as he resumed the walk, but was stopped by Kris.

“It could be a trap,” he said skeptically.

“Would you rather go back towards the boggers?” D.O asked, raising an eyebrow in defiance. Kris frowned and shook his head in response. “Thought so,” D.O agreed and they continued to walk away from the street.

“Hey Jongdae,” Xiumin called as he got closer to him.

“Yeah?”

“You were reading a book about vehicles,” he said.

“Yeah, I was,” Jongdae confirmed.

“So?” Xiumin looked at him expectantly.

“So what?” he asked feeling confused.

“Can you use one?” Xiumin said as if his question was obvious.

“You mean if I could drive one?” Jongdae clarified.

“Yes,” he rolled his eyes.

“Um, well in theory, yes. Yes I could,” Jongdae replied, feeling unsure if it was the best answer at the moment.

“Really?” Baekhyun chipped in.

“In theory,” Jongdae stressed. “But it has to be this big car, a recreational vehicle, which is big and long.”

“Wait a minute,” Chanyeol interrupted, walking beside Baekhyun. “I saw one like that, when we were walking towards the Hanok with Miss Ga.”

“Do you remember where it was?” Xiumin asked.

“It was around half way through the path we took, if I’m not mistaken,” he replied. “I think I saw it before we saw that burnt building.”

“We have to find it,” Xiumin concluded and left to inform the others.

“We have to walk the same way we came to the Hanok,” Chanyeol explained as they reached the Kim estate.

“We took the middle entrance,” Tao remembered. “That street,” he pointed to said direction.

“What the…” Kai faltered his words and teleported towards the street entrance. “There’s another arrow here,” he pointed at the drawing.  

“This is getting terrifying,” Tao said uneasy.

“Should we go this way?” Sehun asked insecurely.

“We have to,” Chanyeol said pressing his lips together –he wasn’t a fan of the idea either.

“Let’s go, if it gets more suspicious we’ll leave,” Suho instructed as he dared to venture the street.

 

I hope it doesn't, he naively thought.

‘It’s going to get worse,’ Luhan’s voice said in his mind. ‘It always does.’

Jongdae cringed in fear as he saw how serious Luhan was about that.

 

“Here's another arrow,” Kai said. “And another one,” he said after teleporting further away.

“This can’t be good,” Sehun frowned as he bit his bottom lip nervously.

“But the big car is this way,” Chanyeol reminded.

“Let's just hurry to it and get the out of here,” Luhan opined as he hurried his steps.

“Here's another arrow,” Tao pointed out.

“Ignore the ing arrows,” Kris grumbled.

Jongdae felt his heart snap as the blaring sound of the siren went off again. Its long wailing disturbed the streets of the town, playing its cold melody twice.

“What the hell is this?” Sehun yelled once it stopped, with his hands still over his ears.

“It’s ing madness,” Tao replied bitterly.

“Let’s hurry,” Suho said and they began to run downhill the empty streets.

Jongdae began to feel a little hope as he recognized the streets they had walked through before, but what unnerved his confidence were the many graffiti arrows they encountered on the way. All pointed towards the same direction they headed towards.

“Guys, we took this turn,” Jongdae remembered the store with the broken sign. There was a graffiti arrow that indicated they had to turn right.

“You sure?” Lay asked, looking hesitant to follow the arrow.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“We could keep going forward,” Kris suggested, “and then find another turn to-” he was cut off as a bird flew low, passing close to his head forcing him to duck. The bird flew up again and hooted at them before flying away, disappearing over the buildings towards their right.

“Was that…” Chanyeol drifted as he wondered perplexed.

“It was,” Kris confirmed and walked into the street at their right.

They followed the tallest one into the street, and as they reached the end they saw an arrow indicating they must turn left. But a loud shot was heard, repeatedly. The blasts startled the group, making them take cover against a wall. But nothing happened around them, the noise came from further inside the street.

“Should we check it out?” Xiumin asked.

“Can’t we just leave and not see whatever the hell it is?” Tao asked, hiding behind Suho.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agreed.

“There are people over there,” D.O said with a frown, his hands placed against the ground. He looked up to Kris, “What should we do?”

“Are you sure that you perceive humans and not boggers?” Kris asked.

“Yes, the stepping patterns are different,” he answered. “But,” D.O frowned as he concentrated, “they aren’t alone. I think there are boggers as well, there's a lot of movement.”

“I could check,” Kai offered.

“Hey wait,” Sehun stopped him –he looked very worried. “Use your intangibility.”

“Of course,” Kai said, ruffling the other’s hair. “I’ll just take a peek,” he said before disappearing.

Sehun crossed his arms as he waited. Luhan stood beside him with his eyes closed as he focused on listening to Kai’s thoughts.

“Okay, he says that there is a big group of people further at this cross road,” Luhan informed. “But they are defending themselves from boggers with some weapons. Those things are what make the loud noise, and- wait, what? He’s thinking something about ice, I didn’t get it,” he faltered and tried to focus again. “He thinks we should go help them,” he said serious, opening his eyes to look at the rest.

Kai appeared next to the group. “They need help,” he said looking preoccupied.

“What did they look like?” D.O asked.

Kai frowned confused at the other’s inquire. “They were dressed in uniforms, like the Colonel.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go,” D.O suggested.

“What?” Chanyeol gasped.

“Why? We should help, they’re against boggers they must be in trouble,” Suho said.

“But, what if they are part of the company too?” D.O said.

“So what if they are,” Suho snapped. “We have the chance to save them from those monsters. We can’t just let people die,” he lectured.

D.O shared a look with Kai, as if they both had some secret between them.

“What if… if we don’t mind letting a few bastards die,” Kai suddenly said, his tone sounding graver than normal.

“What do you mean?” Suho said estranged.

“I mean, if they are… not good people, people like the staff that worked on us. Then I wouldn’t care about saving them,” Kai shyly explained.

Suho stood quiet as he stared dumbfounded at them both. His curious eyes finally made signs of recognition. “What have you done?” he asked softly as if his voice would break. “You, you couldn’t have… no.”

“They disserved it,” D.O said unwavering. “All of them.”

“How could you?” Suho asked ashamed. “They were people.”

“Does that really matter? Did you really think they cared about you?” D.O argued. “Look at yourself Suho, all of us! We’re not normal because of them. Look at the we’re in. We’ve been fighting to survive all our lives because of them!”

“They were humans!” Suho snapped.

“They were monsters!” D.O yelled back. “The real monsters.” D.O huffed as he ruffled his messy hair. “Judge me all you want, I don’t care,” he continued. “I did what I did because it felt right. They caused this.”

“Suho,” Luhan interrupted whatever the other was about to say. “It really doesn’t matter now. We got worse problems ahead of us.”

Suho fisted his hands and took a second to compose himself. “You’re right,” he muttered.

“Besides, D.O’s right,” Luhan added. “Those bastards brought it upon themselves,” he shrugged.

“So what are we going to do?” Chanyeol asked disconcerted, he looked uncomfortable with how the conversation drifted. “We still need to get to the car.”

“Well, we’re going to have to find out if they are foe or ally,” Suho said adjusting the straps of the backpack. “Let’s go,” he ordered and they ventured down the streets, getting closer to the ruckus.

When they reached the spacious crossing, they appeared behind a military unit in a defensive formation. The troops were gathered close to each other as they fired their weapons against the enemy boggers. But these boggers were different, more evasive and agile, managing to dodge most of the attacks. The white slightly blue boggers moved fast, skating against the slick-frozen path they created on the grounds. Their eyes were large and angled, being the most prominent feature of their diamond shaped faces. They sported white toothy grins as their mouth had no lips to cover their sharp teeth.

Gliding across the broken pavement covered with ice, a blue bogger quickly reached a soldier and attacked using a curved blade on the outer side of its arm; the dense, bright blue blade slice through the machine gun with ease. The soldier screamed in fear as he tried to flee, but the blue bogger dashed quickly towards him, using its blades to slice through his flesh, killing the soldier.

The blue bogger growled, letting out a loud roar as it celebrated it's victory and proceeded to attack its new victim.

 

“You have to be kidding me,” Xiumin said somberly.

“Are those… Ice boggers?” Chanyeol asked disconcerted.

“Yeah,” Kai passively confirmed.

“Well, ,” Tao exasperated. “We’re ed.”

 

 

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A/N: Yeah… Been busy, will be busier.

I’m quite surprised I have over 100 subs now, how did that happen? You guys have been very supportive and patient with me, thank you so much I really, really appreciate you all! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next ones to come. Thank you all for reading my story! I really love reading your opinions about it too, and if you guys have any questions just ask.

I have let this pass, so now there are many new subs to greet. Thanks to K_reed97, aswarfades, ukisskissme95, kpop_trash_, ImaFaguette, applexsama, Katakiichimaru, XZXZXZX, kevinandme, slollipop1718, PikaPrika, bcpfgrg, mexo12, DongTien, leejoon92, devilblack98, fikyukie, Ms_Otaku, Chanbaek_kaisoolover, TaeminnieLuv21, tia-lean, Toymakerinc, apettybetty and LilyClover for joining us in this whirlwind of a story, haha.

Have a great week guys, annyeong!

-Blackie.