“RUN!”

 

“I am running you idiot!”

 

“Well then run faster!”

 

For as long as I could remember, this has been our lives. We run. They chase. We run faster.

 

“Taehyun-ah!” Mino shouts as the maknae goes tumbling over a thorned root.

 

Seunghoon halts and frantically rushes back. “Get up maknae!” he exclaims “they’re coming!”

 

Taehyun clenches his teeth and attempts to scramble back to his feet. With a pained yelp, he crumbles back onto the forest ground. “I can’t” he cries, cradling his bruised and bloodied leg. “Rin!” Seunghoon yells, “Taehyun can’t move!”

 

“Aish!” I breathe as I abruptly steer back and race towards the pair. “Do you even know how ing heavy you are?”

 

“Yah!” Seungyoon calls as he continues to sprint through the trees, “this is not the time to argue! Hurry up!”

 

“Fine,” I huff as I pull a pair of thick black straps out of my utility belt and proceed to strap the boy to my waist. Taehyun grunts as Seunghoon and I roughly tighten the restraints on his injured leg. “Alright,” I say. Ruffling my shoulders, I spread my silver and black wings and slowly raise our maknae out of the clearing, “up we go.” As we lift off, Hoon and I nod in a mutual understanding and he takes off after the others.

---

 

“Noona,” Taehyun breathes, “we’ve gotten far enough. You can put me down.”

“Shut up,” I huff.

“Noona, it’s okay now. At this rate you’ll pass out.”

“I said shut up,” I continue without sparing the boy a look.

“Noona please! You’ve been flying for nearly an hour. I can walk from here,” he pleads, “Please just rest.”

“Your talking is tiring me out the most,” I grunt, “just be quiet.” Taehyun begins to object but I cut him off, “we’re almost there. Your leg will just get worse if you walk and by then you’ll actually slow us down... so just stay still.”

 

We fly in silence for another ten minutes before an old, run-down hut comes into view.

 

“They’re here!” I hear Mino exclaim as I slowly try to descend. Suddenly, all the fatigue hits me and it feels like fifty ton weights are tied onto my wings, causing us to plunge straight down. “Yeo Rin!” Seunghoon yells, “Taehyun-ah!” He immediately dashes under us and reaches out to catch the injured maknae… leaving me to crash straight into the thicket.

 

“Ow ow ow ow ow” I stutter as I slowly--and very painfully--crawl out of the brush. “What the hell Hoon?”

 

He simply shrugs, “I could only get one of you and Hyunnie was closer. Plus, you’re not even injured.”

 

“I am now you dickwad.”

 

Seungyoon tsks and shakes his head, “What an eloquent vocabulary for a nice young lady.”

 

“Shut your trap. You didn’t just carry a 200lb deadweight for over 30 miles.”

 

“But I’m only one hundred fi--”

 

“Aish!” I scream, ruffling my hair and storming towards the hut.

 

“What’s up with her this time?” Mino whispers to Taehyun. “I don’t even know hyung,” the boy mutters in return, “I did ask her to put me down.”

 

“Maybe she’s jealous you went for the maknae instead of her,” Seungyoon chides as he nudges Hoon’s shoulder.

 

“Aigoo,” Hoon tsks, “just let her be. She’s always been a bit weird.”

 

“Just a bit?” Seungyoon chuckles.

 

“Maybe a bit more than a bit,” Hoon smiles.

---

 

Okay, you’re probably confused as to who, or should I say what, we are. Let’s backtrack a bit.

 

My name is Yeo Rin, or at least, that’s the name I gave myself. I’m 18, I have short blonde hair because of reasons, I only have four friends who all happen to be idiots and--oh, I almost forgot-- I’m a mutant.

 

We all are. I am part bird; yes, I know it sounds lame but hey, I can fly so that’s one point I have over the rest of the boring population. The one downside of this is that I have to hide my wings in a fake backpack which, as it sounds, is not comfortable.

 

Taehyun is part cat (“Panther! How many times do I have to tell you that I am part panther?!” “Oh potato poTAto”), Mino is part chihuahua (“Wolf, Rin. Wolf.” “Would you just be quiet? It’s MY monologue.”), Seungyoon is part snake, and Seunghoon (the king of idiots) is part baby lion (“For the last time, my DNA was derived from a full-grown ma--” “Yeah yeah yeah”). If you asked them, they would probably go on some super long tangent about how they have cool powers and but they’re basically pretty useless (“Hey! I am not--”). I mean, what’s the point of being able to run fast when you’re just going to trip over yourself and not be able to move anyways? (“Ha! You can’t argue with that can you?”)

 

We grew up together--literally. They grew us in adjacent test tubes from what I’ve heard. I can’t be sure because, well, I was literally a fetus. My first memory is from thirteen years ago. It’s weird actually, all of our first memories are from that same day: the day we “met” each other. At least that’s what the white coats told us.

 

 

They told us that we were the only ones, the only children with the “honor” of being enhanced. They told us that we were heroes to the human race and that our DNA would, in the future, create a new generation of better humans.

 

I used to believe them wholeheartedly. That windowless white room; that shiny metal cage; those glimmering alloy restraints. Those were my world. The empty, soulless eyes in the crates next to my own? Those were my family.

 

In the beginning, interaction with the other experiments were forbidden. A breach of code would result in “negative reinforcement.” It had never happened to me but I’ve seen it. I’m sure it was to one of my boys but, try as I may, I cannot remember which one. Faces, back then, were a blur. One reached over and tapped the shoulder of another. He smiled. And then it was dark. There were screams. There was the smell of electricity. And then it was over. The lights flickered back and they smiled no more. I still remember thinking that they deserved it, and that by order, all was well.

 

Obviously, I can see the horror in our situation now. I could explain how we escaped and why, but that’s another story for another time. It would take way too long and I don’t have enough time or patience for that. You’ll find out soon enough anyways.

 

---

 

“You talk to her.”

 

“No you go!”

 

“Shh! I went last time, it’s your turn.”

 

“But look how dangerous she looks right now! Maybe later--”

 

“It’s okay maknae, I’ve already picked out your funeral shroud. You have nothing to worry about. Hyung’s got your back,” Seungyoon snickers, “but not your front because I don’t have the measurements for that yet. Now go!” he continues with a light shove at Taehyun. The boy carefully trudges towards the fuming female hanging upside down from the beam in front of the fire pit. “Noona...you might want to be careful. Your hair might catch on fire…”

 

Irritatedly, I shoot my eyes open and glare at the gaggle of boys peeking out from behind the door. “It’s fine.” I deadpan, “I’m comfortable like this.”

 

“I’m sorry Noona,” he continues.

 

“For what?”

 

“For whatever I did wrong…?”

 

“But you didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

“Then why are you mad?” Taehyun asks carefully.

“Who said I was mad?” I reply. Seunghoon whistles the all clear and the boys pour into the hut in relief.

“But you--” Taehyun starts before he is cut off by Mino’s speedy tackle. “SHH!” he hisses at the younger, “Just let it happen.”

 

Seungyoon leans over to Seunghoon and whispers, “has she always been this bipolar?”

 

“I think it’s gotten worse lately,” the latter replies. I wrinkle my brows and glare at the 2seung pair. “I can hear you, you know.”

 

“No no,” Seungyoon teasingly throws his hands in the air, “just making a lighthearted comment.”

 

“Taehyunnie’s right,” Seunghoon starts, “you should get off that beam. You’ll just get a headache and complain about it later. You’re part chicken not part bat so I don’t know why you always do that.”

 

“I am not part chicken!” I gasp.

 

“Yah!” Mino hisses at Seunghoon, “she just calmed down! Can’t we just have peace in this household for like twenty minutes?”

 

“He started it!” I growl as I release myself from the position and lunge at the baby lion.”She threw the first punch!” he shouts as he proceeds to pull my hair. Mino tries to break up the scuffle, Seungyoon goes to snicker in a corner, and Taehyun just sighs, “One normal night. That’s all I’m asking.”