"He's not with you?" Somi quivered and Hyunwoo shook his head in response.

"We haven't seen him since the day we split up" He informed her and Somi tugged at her hair in frustration.

"Where the is he Somi?!" Hoseok snarled and Somi shook her head, quickly getting just as worked up as him when he yelled.

"I've already told you I don't know!" She exclaimed in response as she tugged at her hair. Jooheon pried her fingers away from her hair and he began fixing it with his back to Hoseok, blocking the two from each other's sight.

"Blame Somi as much as you want but how much help do you think she could have been in stopping him from running off wherever he went if she was being attacked by those skinwalkers?" Changkyun stepped in front of Somi as Hoseok approached her on heavy but quick feet. Changkyun squared his shoulders and raised his chin with his eyes trained on Hoseok. Hyunwoo put his arm out and Hoseok stopped behind the arm. He looked at Hyunwoo in frustration and Hyunwoo shook his head. Jooheon pulled the hair tie holding Somi's hair up and released her hair from it. He fixed all the bumps and brushed it out with his fingers before tying it back up to look like it did before Somi had pulled it out of its sleek look.

"It's ok" He gave Somi a weak smile and Somi bit down on her bottom lip, nodding as her eyes cast down to her feet instead of looking at him.

"Ok?! One of us is still missing and you want to say it's ok?!" Hoseok started and Hyunwoo shoved Hoseok back, using his larger frame to cover the others this time.

"That's enough!" He ordered and Hoseok narrowed his eyes at him.

"Yes, we've lost Kihyun! But no one is to blame for that. We've lost Jooheon and found him and now we need to do the same for Kihyun and standing here putting the blame on each other is not going to help us do that, you're only hindering us right now!" Never had any of them heard Hyunwoo raise his voice like that. Somi's hands automatically grabbed Jooheon's and Minhyuk and Changkyun moved closer to them with a sharp movement. Hyungwon froze with his hand reaching out for Hyunwoo who was frozen before a stiff and wide eyed Hoseok. The hairs on the back of their necks stood on end and their eyes looked around as they strained their ears to listen out for any danger. Several seconds passed where they could hear voices and rushed feet getting closer to them.

"Hide!" Hyunwoo ordered and they separated. Somi pulled Jooheon and Minhyuk with her and Changkyun followed them. They dived behind bushes and slammed their back into the trunk of trees. Hyungwon shifted into a frog and hopped over the ground as Hoseok and Hyunwoo split up in different directions. Jooheon pushed Somi into the trunk of the tree that they hid behind and as two girls and three boys made their way into their view, they tried to quietly shuffle around the tree with Changkyun and Minhyuk following them crouched on the ground to stay out of sight.

"I could have sworn I could hear someone here" One of the males spoke up to get grunts of agreement.

"I could hear people arguing, just like you guys said" Another spoke up to receive a grunt from the first speaker.

"Maybe the hosts are trying to mess with us" A girl with long blonde hair offered a suggestion and there were scoffs and snorts in response.

"It was just a thought" The same girl huffed under her breath as she pouted on her own.

"You might be right" The other girl on the team smiled, putting a supportive hand on her friend's arm.

"Let's just keep moving to find the others, it's quicker and safer if we can avoid the fight that comes with finding another team anyway" One of the boys suggested and the group picked up their pace at his words. Everyone waited and held their breath until they could only hear the voices and steps of that team as small muffles.

"Do you think they're gone?" Hyungwon asked aloud as he stepped out from behind a tree in his human form. Hoseok followed and Hyunwoo came out shortly after him as the other four clumped out of the bushes together.

"I'm sorry for making a commotion, it attracted unwanted attention that we didn't need to be dealing with right now" Hyunwoo apologised, quickly following his words with a deep bow. Everyone's eyes widened and Minhyuk pulled on Hyunwoo's arm for him to stand up straight again as Hoseok looked, away tucking in his bottom lip and keeping quiet.

"Don't apologise, let's just keep moving and try to catch Kihyun, where ever he has gotten to"

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

"I don't know what to do, he hates me" Somi shook her head, her voice quivering and weak in fear. Minhyuk stopped her hands from ripping at her hair again and put them by her side, holding one of her hands for good measure as they walked from tree to tree, peeking out before moving to the next.

"I say that we've been in here for almost two weeks at this point in time, the competition is getting to all of us and that was probably his breaking point and now it just so happens to be you that is on the receiving end of that break down" Minhyuk whispered back as they followed the group but Somi still felt deflated.

"I lost Kihyun"

"Could you really have done something different?"

"I could have moved to get behind him again quicker, then I would have known where he really was the whole time" She pointed out and Minhyuk took the chance to look at her when they stuck themselves to the trunk of a tree as several sounds of an approach broke out.

"Even with those skinwalkers jumping at you?" Minhyuk asked in an even quieter voice and Somi mulled over in her head a way to say why she was still to blame for this.

"Exactly" Minhyuk took her silence as her giving up and Somi looked down at her feet that stood between his. Minhyuk put a hand on her arm, gripping it tightly and Somi looked up, bumping into his chest. Minhyuk looked around the tree, quickly turning his head back out of sight again as he in a sharp breath that told Somi something wasn't right.

"Ok so this is bad" He mouthed and Somi's eyes went wide.

"How bad?" She mouthed back to him.

"Very bad" Somi leant to the side to take a look and her eyes widened at what she saw dragging through the forest. Minhyuk pulled her back behind the tree and she looked at him with unblinking eyes.

"Is that what I think it is?" She mouthed and Minhyuk nodded. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in as close as he could so that they were well hidden behind the tree. They held their breaths as they waited. They could hear the sniffing of a nose and the padding of feet against the damp ground. They were heavy and slowly taken steps and Somi covered with her hand to stop herself from making any sounds.

"That's a real gorilla" Minhyuk mouthed the words to her and Somi nodded her head, trembling eyes looking back out at the gorilla. It swung its arms at trees and bushes and grunted as it walked around. It walked on its two legs and dropped back down to scrape its fists over the ground as it looked around. Somi panicked when the gorilla turned its head to look in their direction and she gripped Minhyuk's sleeve, pulling him to stand on the thick root of the tree beside their feet so they were out of sight. Fearing that they were too late and it may have heard them, Somi squeezed her eyes shut and put her head in Minhyuk's chest. He was holding his breath, not even daring to breathe and with her ear pressed against his shirt, Somi could hear his heart hammering in his chest.

They stayed like that for what felt like the longest time they had spent avoiding anything. The gorilla was slow paced and it browsed through the forest leisurely to see if it came across anything. By this point, legs were getting numb and the fingers of clenched fists were aching to be stretched out to their full length again. Eventually, it just became rustles in the background that got smaller until they could no longer hear it and Hyunwoo was able to step out and reassure them that they could keep moving. Somi's body went slack and she dragged her feet back to bring herself out of her hiding place with Minhyuk. The others looked visibly shaken up by the encounter with the animal and Minhyuk rubbed the back of his neck that ached.

"That was close" He breathed out, receiving nods of agreement.

"Come on, we need to cover more ground"

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Bora couldn't help the way she pursed her lips, nervously looking on the monitor that the commentators were given to see all the action in the forest. The two men on either side of her were doing a good job of narrating what was happening but she could only feel the itch to bite at her nails like she normally did when she was feeling stressed or nervous.

"It seems that the live gorilla was unable to find them folks" The one to her right leant back with a sigh.

"But do not feel disappointed just yet, after all, this year's race is all about answering the requests of our viewers" The one to her left optimistically smiled at the camera as the remaining commentators agreed with him.

"And we have plenty more up our sleeve"

"So stay tuned to see which contestants our animals will run into next!"

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"Hyungwon!" Somi's voice ripped through . Tears streamed down her face but it didn't bring him back. He remained laying on the ground, his limbs spread out and his eyes closed. He was already ghostly pale. Getting close to being too late.

Fury filled Hyunwoo. His eyes trailed to the one responsible and his expression darkened. His chest rose and fell heavily. His throat ached and his eyes watered. He clenched his hands into fists and he ran forward.

Somi dropped to the ground. The strength seemed to seep out of her body before she could even reach Hyungwon and she let out a cry as she crashed into dried up leaves and protruding rocks over the damp ground. A weight crashed over her and pushed the air out of Somi's lungs. It forced her eyes to fly open again and she looked up at the one atop of her as their hands shot to to clamp down on her airway. There was no remorse in his eyes, just pure anger. Somi's eyes went wide and her hands grabbed at those pressing down on . She tried to take a breath in but it only made her choke. The boy on top of her hissed, pursing his lips and pressing more weight down on . Somi's back curved off the ground as she struggled. Her legs kicked and her knees rammed into the boys back but it didn't make him loosen his hold on . 

Somi's face was growing red and she could feel herself slipping from the world around her. A whole minute had passed and it was getting close to the second minute. There was saliva that shot out of and down her cheeks. Her eyes were watering and her body was slowing down. Her vision was blurring and clearing just to blur again. It was getting darker and her mind was screaming at her to do something to stop this punishment on her body. Somi's eyes felt heavier the longer she was held under the strangling boy. She tried but she couldn't keep them open. Her nails that had been digging into his arm the whole battle relented and her arms slipped away as her body went limp. Relief filled Somi when she let her whole body fall flat on the ground and the boy looked at her with wide eyes. His fingers around flexed and the pressure on her windpipe was gone as he pulled away. His fingers trembled and his breaths were laboured but he believed he had done what needed to be done to help his team.

Somi looked to the place that she hadn't looked to within her for a long time. It was hot and familiar. There were fire and birds, things were floating and everything was red and blue. She could feel it thriving, pulsing in waiting and the moment she set her mind upon it that energy burst to life.

Her eyes snapped open and the boy could see the fire within them. Her hands slammed into his chest and he flew back several meters with a loud cry. Somi took in a deep breath to fill her lungs and let it out. She moved her head from left to right to stretch her aching