After she had removed each piece of the fire-resistant suit, Joy sat on the back bumper of the humvee, taking long drinks from her flask. The three newcomers that she and Jennie had rescued from the forest were in the vehicle, where Jennie was dressing their wounds. Luckily, none of them had been seriously injured - just some minor cuts and bruises. Joy could still hear the youngest of the trio (whose name was Yerim) sniffling. Every time Jennie had tried to apply alcohol to her wounds, the girl had started crying again, which led to Jennie getting annoyed, which led to the girl crying more, which led to the monolidded girl (whose name was Seulgi) snatching the alcohol from Jennie’s hands and doing it herself. Joy couldn’t help but find Yerim’s child-like tendencies adorable.

Jennie stepped out from the vehicle just as Joy was putting her flask away. The younger girl, still wearing her suit, looked exasperated. She reached out for the flask and Joy handed it off to her.

“How are they?” Joy asked.

“They’re fine. They got off real easy, to be honest. We showed up just in time.”

“You have a tendency to do that.” Joy said nervously, “Hope I didn’t hold you back too much.”

“Yeah, well,” Jennie was blushing now, “You’re actually really good with a flamethrower. I thought I’d be doing all the heavy lifting myself.”

There was an awkward pause in the conversation. Joy had no idea what to say. She was glad that Jennie seemed to be warming up to her, but she still couldn’t forgive the younger girl for what she’d said about Wendy.

Jennie procured her pack of cigarettes, opened it, and offered it to Joy. The older girl politely declined. She had tried cigarettes before when she was younger, but had despised the taste and the feeling of filling her lungs with anything that wasn’t oxygen.

“You’re the only one in your group that smokes.” Joy said, “You know that it’s bad for you, right?”

Jennie replied by blowing a puff of blue smoke into Joy’s face, making her cough.

“Way I see it, something’s probably gonna kill me before I’m old anyway. Might as well enjoy everything I can.” Jennie’s words carried a certain finality that rendered Joy unable to counter them.

“That’s… actually a good point.”

“I know, I’m smart like that. Once I’m done with this, we’ll get going. I bet Wendy’s woken up by now.”

Joy’s heart fluttered at the thought of seeing a conscious Wendy.

“Speaking of which…” Jennie went on, her voice becoming lower, “I’m sorry for how I acted before. I didn’t mean to insult you guys. I was just so worried for Rosie. You should’ve seen how close that scorpion came to getting her. I can’t imagine losing her. She’s very important to me.”

“Wow. Jennie-”

“Don’t get sentimental, please. Just accept my apology and let’s forget about it.”

Jennie walked away so that she wasn’t facing Joy.

“Apology accepted.” Joy said, smiling at the younger girl’s back.

***

Yerim fell asleep almost immediately after the vehicle had gotten moving, her head resting loosely on Irene’s shoulder. Seulgi was awake, sitting in the seats across from Irene and Yerim with her arms crossed, a deep scowl fixed on her face. Unlike Yerim, Irene wasn’t tired at all. The adrenaline from their escape was still pumping through her system, and the new information she was being bombarded with was buzzing through her head and keeping her awake.

After fixing their wounds and providing them with fresh water, their two saviors (Joy and Jennie) had told them that they were going to a place where there were other people. Other actual living humans. Irene could barely contain her excitement. She wondered how Seulgi was taking all of this, as the girl had said very little aside from her momentary outburst when Jennie had been too rough with Yerim.

“Hey Seulgi,” Irene whispered, fearing that her voice may disturb Yerim, “What do you think of this whole...uh, situation?”

“I don’t know.” Seulgi replied shortly, looking away.

“You’ve been awfully quiet since we left the forest. We’re safe now, you should be happy. Is something the matter?”

“Why would I be happy, Irene? I almost got you two killed. I forgot literally everything I learned. I’m a stupid piece of .”

“Oh,” Irene said, pausing for a second to find the proper words, “Seulgi. It’s not your fault. The forest really did seem amazing. It was easy to fall for. I just got lucky in guessing that it was a trick, that’s all. It’s a mistake anyone could have made.”

“But I’m not anyone. I’m supposed to know what I’m doing. I’m supposed to be able to protect you guys.” at the last word, Seulgi’s voice broke. Irene wanted to get up and comfort her, but Yerim was still slouched against her.

The vehicle rolled to a stop, and Jennie banged on the metal sheet that separated the front and back seats. Yerim bolted up in surprise, but Irene patted the girl, reassuring her that she was safe.

“You don’t have to strictly rely on yourself anymore. You have us now. You may be the most experienced, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look out for you too.”

Jennie pulled open the back doors of the vehicle. Joy was jogging away into the distance already. The three girls stood up. To Irene’s surprise, Seulgi walked over to her and embraced her for a brief moment.

“Thank you, unnie.”

“If you’re done ing, I have to unload the equipment.” Jennie said, tapping her foot impatiently in the sand.

“Oh! Uh, I’ll help you. Just show me where to put it.” Seulgi said, pulling away from Irene and scrambling to scoop up components of the heat-resistant suits in her arms.

“Everyone’s too helpful today… ” Jennie muttered before pointing to her left, “Go to that building. They have food and beds set up. There’s also showers in the one closest to the pond. Please use those after you eat, you smell horrible.”

Irene stepped onto the sand and looked around. They had arrived at what appeared to be a tiny oasis town. She took the still half-asleep Yerim by her arm and guided her to the hut Jennie had mentioned. Inside there were two girls in addition to Joy. One of the girls was lying down on a cot with one of her legs set by some wood and bandages. She looked very weak, and was being fed soup from a bowl by Joy. The other girl, the rather cute one with violet hair that fell to the small of her back, turned away from helping Joy and looked over at Irene. The girl’s large, curious eyes were enough to render Irene speechless for a moment.

“So you must be Yeri and Irene?” the girl asked, pointing out the wrong girls.

“No, I’m Yeri. And she’s Irene.” Yerim said kindly.

“Oops, sorry… Well, come sit down and eat something,” the girl gestured to a table with a half-eaten meal sitting on it, “You look terrible.”

The girl clasped both hands over , realizing what she’d just said.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant you looked tired and hungry. Aside from that, you guys look fine. Great, even!”

Irene fell into a fit of giggles and was unable to respond.

“We know. We’re pretty y.” Yerim said, walking over to the table. Irene followed and took a seat next to Yerim.

“Have anything you like.” the other girl said, “Me and the girls finished the scorpion legs, but there’s still plenty of bread, chicken and vegetables left.”

“Bread! Chicken!” Yerim exclaimed, digging in. Irene steered clear of the leftover husks of scorpion legs, but helped herself to a generous serving of bread and vegetables.

“My name is Rosé, by the way. I’m going to go help Jennie with the equipment.”

“Oh no, sit with us! Seulgi’s helping her out, anyway!” Yerim said through a mouthful of food.

The blonde girl in the bed suddenly sat up, eyes wide.

“Seulgi?”
Like clockwork, the hut door opened and the girl in question entered, her face glistening with sweat. She opened to speak (most likely to comment on Jennie making her carry the heavier equipment) but froze when her eyes met the bedridden girl’s.

Irene’s eyes darted back and forth between the two.

Seulgi ran over to the girl in the bed, scooted between her and Joy, and wrapped both arms around her shoulders.

“Be careful with her! She’s recovering!” Joy exclaimed, grabbing Seulgi by the shoulders.

“It’s okay, Joy. I know her. She was a good friend of mine in high school.” Wendy said, returning Seulgi’s hug.

“Holy . Oh my god. Wendy. Why are you here? I’m so happy to see you. Well, not here, it actually really that you’re here, but just seeing you. It’s amazing.”

“Seulgi… I haven’t seen you since I moved back to Canada for university. How have you been? You stopped answering my calls after awhile so I thought you’d forgotten about me…” Wendy asked, sounding hurt.

Seulgi chewed on her lower lip and looked away.

“Good. Went to school. Probably the same story as you, just woke up here one day.”

“Me too, it happened a few weeks ago, I think. I’m not sure, Joy usually keeps track of the time.” Wendy offered a warm glance two Joy, who was still holding the soup bowl and looking at Seulgi with a slight frown on her face.

“Wen, I just want you to know something. I didn’t stop answering you because I forgot about you. I never did.” Seulgi caressed Wendy’s face then, running her fingers down the girl’s cheek tenderly. Irene wasn’t aware that Seulgi was capable of such softness. “I’ve been here for two years. In this world, I mean.”

“No…” Wendy said, her already damp eyes beginning to overflow, “Seul… I’m so sorry.”

They held each other again.

When Irene realized she’d been staring that entire time, she turned away and went back to eating, tapping Yerim on the shoulder and indicating for her to do the same. Jennie and Rosé had taken seats across from them. Jennie was inhaling as much food as she could while Rosé had her arms wrapped around Jennie’s elbow, delicately running her fingers over the leather of the older girl’s jacket. Joy walked over, put the soup bowl down on the table (with a little more harshness than necessary) and took the free seat next to Yerim.

Irene tried her best not to listen to Seulgi and Wendy’s conversation, but still picked up snippets of it. What she did hear seemed so out of place. They talked about school and home life, and memories of their high school days together. It was a side of Seulgi that Irene had forgotten existed. A sweeter side, a side with a twinkling laugh and a toothy grin that lit up her whole face. Irene found herself wishing that she was able to bring that side of Seulgi out. She was able to take comfort in the fact that Joy seemed to be enjoying the reunion less than she was. The taller girl was sitting, legs crossed, impatiently tapping her fingers on the table and swirling around the half-eaten, now cold soup that she’d been feeding to Wendy. Rosé was listening to Jennie’s retelling of how she and Joy had saved Irene’s group, occasionally being forced to pause as the violet-haired girl would wipe food away from her lips or chastise her for eating with full.

“So, how did you guys manage to make such a nice living place in the desert?” Yerim asked suddenly. The red-haired girl had finished eating and was now looking at Jennie and Rosé intently. Rosé shifted uncomfortably, but Jennie had no problem answering.

“We didn’t make any of this. Dad did.”

“Dad?” Irene interjected, disbelief painted on her face, “You guys are related?”

“What? No, you sicko! We just all grew up together here. We call the guy who took care of us ‘Dad’ because that’s just what we all refer to him as. As you can clearly see, we’re definitely not related.”

“Oh, I didn’t know, I mean, I just-”

“It’s okay, that wasn’t a crazy assumption to make.” Rosé reassured.

“Anyway,” Jennie continued, “Dad’s really old. He lives in the biggest hut over there. Jisoo and Lisa are probably eating with him now and letting him know what’s going on with so many people being here.”

“How many of you live here?” Yerim asked.

“Just us five. It’s actually exciting to have so many people here, because we hardly ever

get any friendly visitors.” Rosé said.

Just then, two other girls entered the hut. One was blonde with green tips, the other black-haired. The black haired one was about Seulgi’s height, and the blonde was about as tall as Joy. The blonde had a unique face, with almost babyish facial features that contrasted with her plump, pink lips. Irene noted that this particular girl gave Yerim a long glance and a sly grin as she walked by.

“So Jennie bought some more people home for dinner, huh?” the blonde said, taking the seat across from Yerim and extending her hand to her, “I’m Lisa. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeri… nice to meet you, too.” the girl responded, shaking Lisa’s hand.

Irene noted how forward and honest all of these girls were. Despite their young age there was a strong air of confidence and sureness about them.

“I’m Jisoo.” the black-haired girl said, sitting herself down across from Irene, “And I’m not pretentious so I won’t make you shake my hand.”

“Shut up, unnie.” Lisa said, laughing loudly to herself.

“And don’t think I didn’t notice you only shaking hands with the one you like.”

Yerim blushed as Lisa only laughed harder.

“Anyway,” Jisoo said, looking at Irene and smiling her sweet smile, “Dad wants to meet you guys. He said that whenever they’re ready, they should go over and talk to him. Seemed kind of important.”

“Really?” Rosé asked, a look of confusion coming over her, “That’s new. Maybe you guys are special or something.”

Seulgi returned to the table, having finished her conversation with Wendy. She wordlessly dug into the leftovers, eating in a way that was almost on par to Jennie’s messiness. Joy stood up and walked back over to Wendy in order to finish feeding her.

As she watched the younger girl eating her dinner, Irene couldn’t help but notice a small bit of sauce on Seulgi’s chin. She contemplated for a moment, then took one of the napkins from the table and reached over to dab it away. Seulgi, however, reacted violently, jerking her head back in surprise.

“What are you doing?!”

“I-I was just trying to wipe some sauce off your face.”

“Oh… uh, okay.” Seulgi said, leaning forward and pointedly trying to avoid eye contact with the older girl. Irene then completed her task, making sure to be as gentle and thorough as possible.

“Wow. That sure was awkward.” Jennie said, shaking her head. Laughter erupted across the entire room as Irene and Seulgi simultaneously turned deep shades of crimson.

***

Wendy insisted on leaving her bed to join the other girls for their meeting. Although Rosé had assured her that their father would understand if Wendy was absent, the petite girl was adamant. It then became an argument between Seulgi and Joy as to who would assist Wendy in getting out of bed. The argument was settled when Jennie had walked past the two bickering girls, scooped Wendy out of bed, and gotten her situated with her crutches. Wendy was genuinely flattered that the two girls were fighting over her, even if it was a bit childish. When both girls had noticed that Wendy was having trouble using her crutches on the sand, they’d each gone to opposite sides of her and helped guide her to the large hut on the other side of the oasis.

“Dad’s a really nice guy. He’s not the prettiest but he’s definitely the sweetest. Terrible sense of humor though.” Lisa said, holding the door open for the girls.

Exteriorly, this hut wasn’t very much different from the other three. Interiorly, however, it was almost another world. There was much more space here; no beds, no bookshelves, very little personal belongings. The single room was illuminated by a row of candles that provided a very weak, but somehow comforting, light. At the center of the room was a large velvet chair. It looked more like a throne, as it was inlaid with large jewels and ornate carvings. Its structure was held together by what appeared to be pure gold, but was much more reflective. The candlelight played on its surface in such a way that cast the entire room in an orange glow.

In the throne sat a tall, pale-skinned man dressed entirely in army attire. His body was unearthly thin, causing his green camouflage clothes to spill over the sides of the throne. The helmet on his head sagged slightly to the left, its chin straps undone. His eyes were nonexistent; or at least, Wendy couldn’t see them. Instead, he had two pitch black holes in his skull. He wore a simple silver necklace with a small, hexagonal crystal as its pendant.

The newcomers were all immediately apprehensive. Anything undead that they had met in this world had been hostile to them. Lisa, Rosé, Jennie, and Jisoo, however, were totally at ease. They walked up to the man’s throne and sat directly in front of him. Jisoo was so bold as to start tying his loose bootlaces for him.

“Hey dad,” the girl said, deftly fiddling with the boots in an attempt to make them look nicer, “We brought them to come see you.”

To Wendy’s shock, the man’s dry lips parted into a toothless smile.

“At long last. I finally meet you all.” he said. His voice was not what Wendy had expected. It came out very smoothly and deeply, much like her own father’s did. By the reactions of the other newcomers, they felt the same. Even Yerim, who seemed like the type to be terrified of everything, relaxed quite a bit.

“You took a long time to get here, didn’t you? Especially this one.” the man raised his withered arm and pointed to Seulgi, “You’ve been here too long.”

“H-how did you know that?” Seulgi asked, her face draining of all color.

“Dad knows everything!” Rosé said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “He says he’s not allowed to tell us certain things, but he knows it all!”

“Rosie’s right, I do know many things.” the man said, letting out a low chuckle.

“If you know everything, can you tell us why we’re here? And more importantly, how we can get back home?” Irene’s tone was almost demanding, causing Wendy to wince a bit in fear, but the man seemed not to care.

“I can. That is actually why I have requested your audience.”

The atmosphere of the room shifted noticeably. The air felt charged, as if something important was about to happen.

“I have lived in this world for many thousands of years now. I was born in the time where sunlight still shone here, and where humans thrived. I was a soldier who fought in many wars. The humans of this world were able to create many fantastic things using a mix of magic and technology, eventually being able to conjure living beings. Their experiments eventually began polluting the planet. The magic they had imbued in the soil gave the planet sentience, and it waged war against the humans. During my final battle, I was cursed by a necromancer to live the remainder of my days as a zombie. The first zombie, in fact. Unlike other zombies, I was able to retain my intelligence. I watched as the humans destroyed themselves. As the Living Mountain, the humans’ dearest and most vital creation, turned against them, and erupted. As chaos ruled supreme and the world was shrouded in forever darkness. This world has been dying since then, slowly, but surely... I have seen and learned many things throughout my life, and eventually I came to settle here in this desert. To live the rest of my days out in contemplative peace. Although I learned many things in my travels, I do not know why people from your world have been summoned to this one. That is how my four daughters arrived here, all on separate occasions, all as young children.”

The man paused then. Like clockwork, Jennie sprung up from her seat, took the flask from her hip, and carefully poured water into her father’s mouth.

During this interlude, Wendy came to notice that at some point during the story, Joy had reached over and grabbed her hand. Joy’s hand was shaking in Wendy’s loose grip. The smaller girl tightened her hold on Joy’s hand to steady it.

When the man was finished drinking, Jennie returned to her seat in front of him.

“But you five are different. I can feel a presence within each of you that I have not felt in my thousands of years. And that is why I have a request to ask of you.”

The man reached behind his neck and unclasped his necklace. He held the jewel in his clasped hands, moving it back and forth so that everyone could see it properly. Wendy noticed that Jennie, who was standing beside the man, narrowed her eyes.

“This jewel has the power to take you back. All you have to do is wear it, and it will return you to the world that you were originally from. It is the only necklace in existence that has this power. If one of you were to put it on and link arms with the others, it would transport you all back. ”

Wendy felt a flare of hope forming in her. Was it really true? Could they all get home? Could this nightmare end right then and there?

“You-you would allow us to use that?” Irene asked, eyes wide.

“Yes. I have offered it to my daughters many times, but they insist on staying here. I understand. This world is all they know.”

“And we can’t just leave our dad behind!” Lisa interjected.

The man smiled again.

“However, there is a caveat.”

The man’s daughters were no longer relaxed. Instead, a melancholy look came upon all of their faces; all except Jennie, who looked absolutely furious.

“You see, the Living Mountain that destroyed the humans all those years ago is now threatening to erupt once again. I can feel it. This time, the planet will not be able to withstand its power. Everything will be destroyed.”

Jennie’s fury came to a head completely at that moment, for the girl marched out of the hut, slamming the door unceremoniously behind her. Rosé gave a quick, apologetic look to the confused girls and ran after her.

The man had no reaction.

“But I believe… I believe that if this crystal were set into a certain point of the Living Mountain before it erupted, this world could be saved. In fact, if the Living Mountain were to erupt while this crystal was melded into it… then I believe that this world will be restored. Back to what it was before humans arrived. A blank slate, if you will.”

“Then we’ll take the crystal to the mountain, do whatever we need to with it, and then use it to go home! It’s as simple as that.” Joy said, grinning now, “It’s like Lord of the Rings, except with beautiful women.”

The man’s undead visage took on a look that was initially indiscernible to Wendy. Was it pity? Sadness?

“Once set into the mountain, this crystal cannot be removed. And once used to transport an individual to another world, it will shatter. I am leaving the decision up to you girls. You can return to your world right now, and doom this one. Or, you can travel to the Living Mountain, save this world, and perhaps never return to your own.”

-----------------

Shorter, more dialogue-y update today. Now I REALLY ACTUALLY SERIOUSLY won't be able to write for the next couple days /: bummer, I'm having a lot of fun with this. And yeah, I'm aware of how super out there and weird this chapter is. It was meant to be more character-building and very set-up heavy. I think Chapter 6 is suppposed to be similar, albeit a little more fluffy and a little more focused on the individual girls. Don't worry, we're back to some good old-fashioned action in Chapter 7. Til then! (: