"Who said you have to follow me? If you don't want to go this way then don't" Hyunwoo snapped, pushing through fallen branches as his brows furrowed and his lips pursed in frustration.

"Hyunwoo I'm just saying I can hear something coming from that way, if we just go to the right a little bit we can avoid whatever it is without losing our direction" Minhyuk argued, pointing in the direction he wanted the group to go in.

"We can defend ourselves against them it will be fine" Hyunwoo barked.

"Hyunwoo-" Minhyuk opened his mouth again to protest Hyunwoo's sudden change of opinion.

"He's right," Kihyun cut him off and Minhyuk looked at him, astonished by the sudden intrusion made by Kihyun, "we can fend them off, let's just keep going" He nodded and Minhyuk slowed down, taking hold of Somi's hand when she stopped next to him.

"Do we really need to keep walking into fights?" Hyungwon spoke up at the same time that Somi contemplated saying what she was thinking. But Hyungwon had hit the nail on the head and said what she was thinking, beating her to it.

"We're just trying to get out of her alive right? Let's just go this way and avoid another fight that will cause us damage" Hyungwon tried to persuade them, Minhyuk gestured to Hyungwon, silently saying that he agreed with him. 

"It's only going to slow us down if we go the long way around"

"No slower than what we'll be if we stop to fight another group" Jooheon retorted, stepping away from Kihyun.

"Let's just go this way" He waved his arm for anyone to follow and Minhyuk did so without hesitation, pulling Somi along as she looked back at the group.

"Guys" She reached out to them, pleading for them to follow her, but Hyunwoo had marched ahead and Kihyun shook his head.

"Somi" Changkyun quickly followed after the distressed girl and took hold of her hand, squeezing it when he looked into Somi's saddened eyes. Hyungwon looked between Kihyun and the group disappearing, going a different way to Hyunwoo as he marched away. He let out a deep breath, struggling to separate from the team members that were walking away from him.

"Please!" Somi exclaimed as Minhyuk and Changkyun pulled her away and Hyungwon followed them with his eyes, biting down on his lip in hesitation.

"Another fight really isn't worth it" Hyungwon shrugged his shoulders, his arm waving in the direction of the group that Jooheon was leading.

"Take a look at what it's doing to us Kihyun" He began to follow the group and Kihyun watched him carefully.

"It feels a lot like it isn't worth the fight anymore"

"Oh for sake" Kihyun shook his head as he looked through the trees for Hyunwoo who was approaching the danger that they could all sense, he grumbled to himself and ran after him as Hyungwon slowly trailed after the bigger group. Somi watched as Kihyun ran by them and into a different direction and her lip quivered. Changkyun's arms that held her to him grew stronger and his grip on her tightened as her limbs went weak, dragging over the floor of the forest like it took all her strength just to keep walking.

"I'm sorry" Minhyuk repeated the apology that he couldn't stop giving out.

"I'm sorry this is what's safest. I'm sorry" He pulled her along and Hyungwon came up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let me" He nodded to Somi and Minhyuk stepped back, letting him take over.

"Somi" Hyungwon spoke in a gentle voice and she let out a deep breath as she looked up to meet his eyes with her own.

"Come on" He moved in front of her and crouched down so that she could get on his back.

"It ok" Somi shook her head and Hyungwon waved his hands for her to get on.

"Don't make me squat for nothing" He continued and Changkyun nudged for Somi to do as Hyungwon said to.

"Listen to him for now" He chided and Somi let out a deep breath, she slung her arms around Hyungwon's shoulders and leaned over him. Hyungwon scooped up Somi's legs and stood up straight adjusting her on his back as he took his first steps.

"Now that's not so bad is it?" He mused and Somi hummed, hugging her arms around Hyungwon and nuzzling her nose into the crook of his neck, watching Jooheon's figure navigate them through the forest.

"Come on, let's keep up with him" Minhyuk put a hand on Changkyun's back and nodded to Hyungwon to catch up with Jooheon. And they pressed on, all of them resisting the urge to look for the members of their group that they had separated from.

Maybe they'll be fine on their own. Minhyuk tried to convince himself as he looked at the members he was walking with.

Maybe we were meant to be a smaller group.

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

Somi was shaking, quivering beyond believe as her hands covered her face. In her mind, she could feel that she was at her wit's end, her own mind was telling her that it all needed to stop, that she needed to give up on something that had already fallen apart. A pair of arms tightened their grip around her and Somi's breath came out loud and shaky as she whimpered through the panic her own body was sending her into.

"Come on don't cover your face" Jooheon pleaded with Somi and she shook her head as Jooheon pulled her hands away from her face. She was flushed and red in the cheeks. Her eyes were watering and she hid her face in his chest before he could get a good look at her. Not that he would have been able to see much in the dark. Jooheon pulled Somi in close, hugging her as they hid behind another fallen tree that covered them as they lay on the ground. Hyungwon, Minhyuk and Changkyun were somewhere near them, all of them recovering from the shock that a sudden attack had caused them. 

Somi's leg was in severe pain, she couldn't breathe properly and her grip on Jooheon was doing the very minimum to keep her attached to reality. Jooheon blinked the tears out of his own eyes as he looked down at Somi as he pulled her hands away from her face again. He clucked his tongue and held her hands in his, stopping her from hiding behind them and making it harder for herself to breathe.

"You're alright Somi, it's ok" Jooheon attempted to comfort her in his most soothing voice and Somi shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks and her lips parted as laboured breaths escaped her lungs over and over again.

"I've had enough Jooheon" She whimpered and Jooheon's grip on her hands squeezed tighter in response. Somi let out quiet cries, putting her head against the joint hands as Jooheon looked at her falling apart.

"I can't keep going, there's no point" She continued and Jooheon shook his head, wrapping an arm around her and cupping her cheek with his other hand. Somi clung to him when he released her hands and her gleaming eyes looked into his when he used the hand cupping her cheek to make her look up at him.

"Don't say that Somi, we have to make it to the other side, remember? We were gonna make it all the way" He reminded her and Somi's lips quivered in response as she shook her head and shut her eyes.

"You can't give up here Somi, I'm not leaving you behind like I did with the others. Look at me please Somi" Jooheon begged her and Somi hesitated before looking back into Jooheon's eyes.

"You're the most important person I have, don't you realise what you've done for me Somi? I'm not giving up because of you, can't you do the same for me?" He begged of her and Somi's eyes looked over Jooheon's features, the way his eyes had glossed and grown wider, the dirt on his cheek and his hair pushed back from his face.

"Ever since Hoseok left, I knew that if the others did the same, that I would still have you by my side. Somi, what am I going to do if you give up too? How am I going to live with just leaving you in here on your own so that I can continue on my own too?" Jooheon was crying now.

"I've had enough Jooheon" Somi whispered and wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself to be flush against his body.

"But I don't want to stay in here either" They lay on the ground together, holding each other for warmth and protection as their bodies ached. They were running on empty but Somi knew that Jooheon wasn't going to leave her behind. The moment their pain went away enough for them to all continue, he was going to take her with him. Somi breathed in as her mind raced over thought after thought and she looked up at the trees above them, clouding the moon from their view.

Eight of them or five of them, Jooheon wasn't leaving her behind.

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

"Are you able to get up?" Somi looked at Hyungwon and nodded, wincing as she used the fallen tree to help her back onto her feet. Hyungwon scooped a hand under her arm and pulled her up, his other hand landing on her shoulder to make sure she didn't fall forward on her face. Somi took a step forward and winced, reachi