For the 130th time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and came back to him. 

 

For the 131st time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and came back to him. 

 

For the 132nd time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the wall and-

 

“Can you stop playing with Mr. Park’s ball that you found,” Haechan said, lifting his head from the floor where he was lying down. “You’re giving me anxiety.”

 

“There’s a first to everything,” Mark said. For the 133rd time, Mark threw the ball on the floor, which bounced against the-

 

It did not bounce against the wall, as there was a slight tremble.

 

“Great, no WiFi, not light, a creepy person outside and NOW an earthquake??” Haechan yelled, getting off the ground and walking towards the door. “You know what? Thank you Mark for being the best friend ever but I’d rather die sooner than later, buh by-”

 

“Are you ing stupid??” Mark screamed at his crush, pulling him away from the door. The creepy person must have heard them since he continued to pound faster on the door. “Doesn’t he have anything else to pound on?”

 

“That sounded really dirty coming out of your mouth,” Donghyuck said. 

 

“Sh-shut up, you know that’s not what I meant.” Mark reached behind his neck to scratch it, feeling his cheeks get red. “I can’t believe you were about to die.”

 

“It’s called being dramatic Mark, you know I would never leave you.” Haechan sat down on the floor again. “I want to go hom- actually, I want to go to your home, now we won’t have your sleepover.”

 

Mark took off his hoodie, taking out the long-forgotten candy bars and setting them on the desk before lying on the floor next to Haechan, putting his arm below the latter’s head. “We can still have a sleepover, just no mac and cheese.”

 

Haechan set his head on Mark’s arm, the two of them facing each other. “I don’t know, Mark, mac and cheese is kind of a deal breaker.”

 

“True, true.” Mark put his hoodie on top of them, the two scooting in closer so that they could fit, practically hugging at this point. “We’ll just ask the police tomorrow when they come if they can bring us some.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Haechan said, staring into Mark’s eyes, neither saying anything as being in each other’s presence was enough.

 

***

 

“It’s going to take a miracle now for me to see Jungwoo,” Lucas said, sighing.

 

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Ten said, an idea popping in his head. “Look, if Jungwoo comes in the next five minutes, I’ll buy you a giant cake from that one Chinese bakery, if he doesn’t, you buy me one.”

 

Lucas nodded. “Deal-”

 

They heard knocking on the door, with Johnny and Taeil shouting to open up.

 

“How do I know you’re not the police?!” Ten yelled over the knocking.

 

“Because I love you!!”

 

“Good enough.” Ten opened the door, with Johnny, Taeil, Yuta, Doyoung and- “Jungwoo, why would you do this to m- YOUR FACE-” 

 

“HA! You owe me a cake now!” Lucas yelled at Ten, who was letting the others come in. “He said I wouldn’t be able to see Jungwo- JUNGWOO YOUR FACE-”

 

Ten locked the door after they got in the room. “Okay, what are you guys doing here and is Xiaojun okay and Jungwoo, what happened to you?”

 

“Yeah, about that-”

 

“There’s two adults from the US and they say there are aliens here,” Taeil finished. 

 

Silence.

 

“Oh, I’m having that dream again,” Yangyang said, getting in a runner’s stance. “Need to break the window to wake-”

 

“WHAT THE ARE YOU LITERALLY ON??” Ten yelled, pulling Yangyang from the floor. “Yangyang, you need to tell us what drugs you are on!!”

 

“Did you not just hear me?? There are aliens outside trying to kill us!!” Taeil yelled again. 

 

“Makes sense, lights go out and suddenly there’s aliens,” Si Cheng said, sighing. “Let’s just go home-”

 

“No one is going home right now, Johnny, why the are you guys pranking us right now, it’s not the time-”

 

“Ten-Ten hey,” Johnny grabbed Ten’s arms to stop them from moving. “Taeil said he’ll explain it.”

 

“I went with Jaehyun and Taeyong to give Xiaojun O blood and there were two men breaking down the nurse’s door with their bare hands, and when we stabbed them, there was green liquid coming out of them,” Taeil said in one breath. “And there’s more of them everywhere, I think.” 

 

“Taeil says they work for NASA,” Johnny explained. “Remember, the astronauts from the US? They work for them.”

 

“I’m going to pretend this is a huge prank but okay.” Ten sat down on the chair. “So why are you guys here?”

 

“We all have to meet at the office to go home,” Taeil explained. “And go to the nurses offices."

 

Lucas pulled the first aid kit from the wall, not even removing the screws first. “Jungwoo, come here, I’ll clean you-”

 

“Literally how the did you do that-”

 

“Yuta, shut up and leave me alone.”

 

“GUYS!” Doyoung shushed the group. “We have to go. Don’t make noise.”

 

“Well, we’re dead,” Si Cheng muttered to himself. “You got Hendery and Yangyang here.”

 

“Okay, excuse me, since you’re so high and mighty, we’ll leave you here,” Hendery said, pulling Yangyang with him to leave. “Bye guys-”

 

Johnny blocked the door. “No one’s leaving until we have a plan.”

 

“Yeah, they’re not going to listen to you at that,” Ten reminded him.

 

“Shouldn’t we get weapons?” Lucas said, throwing the used wipes that he used to clean the blood off Jungwoo’s face into the wastebasket. “The kitchen has a lot of knives and the gym has bats.” 

 

“That may have been the smartest thing you’ve said all day,” Ten told him.

 

“So we split into two groups, one to the cafeteria, one to the gym,” Taeil stated. 

 

“Taeil, bad things always happen in movies and books when the group splits!” Yuta argued. 

 

Johnny rolled his eyes. “We are not in a story, Yuta.”

 

Yangyang escaped from Hendery’s grip and picked up a chair. “If two of you then it’s a fanfic.”

 

“If this were a fanfic, I would like it to have a major character death tag and for that to be you.”
 

***

 

Jaehyun and Taeyong ran through the hallways with the five Dream unit members, with Jaehyun looking around the corner of the next hallway before saying they can go. 

 

No one dared to say a word; Jaehyun used hand signals for if and when they were going, stopping them if he suspected something. It went on for a while, and Jaehyun had stopped them when he saw two men standing at the end of one hallway, when Jaemin moved too fast from Renjun, causing him to fall on the floor with a thud. 

 

The men heard it, now coming their way.

 

Taeyong pulled Jeno towards him, gesturing for the others to come over quickly. “Guys, in here,” he mouthed, fumbling for the keys he had in his pocket before opening the closest door towards them, the classroom for the Biology class. 

 

He unlocked the room and the seven quickly entered inside, Jaehyun closing it behind them as softly as he could. “Taeyong, you guys have to hide,” he whispered.

 

Taeyong shook his head. “Don’t think you’re going after them.” 

 

“You can’t stop me.” Jaehyun grabbed the keys from Taeyong and went to the door in the room that led to the conjoined one. In the school, two science classrooms would often share a room in between where they would store supplies, only accessible from the two classroom doors. 

 

He unlocked it and gestured to them to go inside. “You guys stay in here,” he said, pulling the fire extinguisher near the eye wash station. “I’ll distract them.” 

 

“Jaehyun, you can’t do that-”

 

“Taeyong.” Against his better judgement, Jaehyun pressed a kiss on Taeyong’s forehead. “Think of them.”

 

“Can you guys stop with the romance, you’re acting like we’re going to die.” Renjun took the fire extinguisher from Jaehyun and ushered them inside, closing the door and locking it as soon as they heard the men banging the main classroom door. 

 

The seven of them, now crammed in the conjoined room, froze when they heard the door from outside being torn apart. 

 

In the center of the room, there was a big counter with sinks that was piled with an array of supplies for the class. On the other end on the bottom, there was a hidden entrance underneath where teachers often put tubs of contents so that they don’t disturbed space.

 

And that’s exactly where they went to hide. 

 

Renjun hastily took out the tubs, pushing them across the floor when they already heard pounding outside. “In here,” he mouthed to Jeno and Jaemin, pushing them inside. Jisung and Chen Le soon followed suit.

 

In the front was Jaehyun, Renjun, and Taeyong, the latter who tried to pull the tubs closer to them so that they weren’t in view. That’s when they heard the door get broken into. 

 

Taeyong held Renjun in his arms, covering his mouth, as Jaehyun took the fire extinguisher from him again and held it, ready to aim it. 

 

No one dared to speak a word as they heard poundings on the door, eventually getting broken down. 

 

They heard footsteps enter the room, slowly, for a long time, until they decided to bust down the other door to enter the other classroom. 

 

Five minutes must have passed but yet it felt like hours, with everyone holding their breath. Taeyong could feel Renjun’s tears falling down his face, and Jisung behind him was twitching a lot. Jaehyun had a calm expression, but beads of sweat were on his forehead, his veins on his neck popping out. 

 

They eventually heard the footsteps getting fainter and soon gone, but they stayed in that position for a few more minutes until the coast was clear.

 

“I think they’re gone,” Taeyong mouthed to Jaehyun, who nodded before crawling his way out of the hidden spot. 

 

They helped the other boys get out one by one, since the space was small and they had to bend their heads to fit. Especially Jisung, who was the tallest one present, so when he got out, he tried to stretch as much as he could, but accidentally tripped on a tub and fell back, knocking down metal dissecting trays off the table. 

 

The metal hit the ground hard, causing a loud disturbance, and apparently an alien must have stayed behind in a classroom, since it came rushing into the storage room. 

 

Jeno stood in front of Jisung as the alien rammed into him, choking Jeno on the wall. Jaehyun immediately sprayed the fire extinguisher at the alien’s eyes, causing it to screech demonic-like sounds and wail its arms around, grabbing Chen Le and his arm, the boy yelping in surprise.

 

Taeyong tried to pull Chen Le from the alien, when they heard a pop, meaning Chen Le dislocated his arm. Jisung had gotten up again and held the alien in a choke hold position, while it tried to scratch Jeno in front of him. 

 

Jaemin saw a bottle on the counter, grabbed it and opened it. “Guys, stay back, don’t let this get on you!” 

 

Jaehyun held the alien’s arms above him and pinned it to the wall while Jisung held its waist in place, Renjun holding its feet together. Jaemin poured the contents on the alien, trying to not spill it on his friends. 

 

The alien withered around, screaming its unintelligible sounds, and must have died, since it was now slowly slouching on the wall, not moving around anymore. 

 

Jisung let out a shriek when some of the liquid got on his arm. “THIS BURNS!!!”

 

“Jisung the eyewash, NOW!” Jaehyun pulled him back into the classroom and the eyewash station, water immediately falling down over him. 

 

“Oh, god, it’s so strong-” Renjun started coughing, his eyes welling up with tears. “I need my inhaler-”

 

“Jaemin, what did you pour on it?” Jeno asked, pulling Renjun away from the dead creature. “Renjun, where’s your inhaler?”

 

“The bottle said sulfuric acid,” Jaemin admitted. “Guys I’m so sorry-”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Chen Le muttered. “A twisted arm is better than a dead person-”

 

Jaehyun came back with Jisung, the two soaking wet and shirtless. Jisung had their shirts pressed on the burns on his arm. “We really need to get out of here.”

 

“Guys, Renjun really needs his inhaler!”  Jeno shouted, patting Renjun on his back, who was now making choking sounds. “His asthma is triggered!”

 

Taeyong ran out to the classroom, opening cabinets. “There’s supposed to be one in science classrooms for emergencies!” he shouted. In one drawer, he found it and pulled it out, running towards Renjun and Jeno. “Here, here it is.”

 

Jeno took it from Taeyong and gave it to Renjun, who took a few inhales, eventually calming down.

 

Jaehyun pulled the first aid kit from the wall and opened it next to Jisung. “Jaemin, there should be a manual about the chemicals, look for sulfuric acid, there should be a section on how to take care of injuries.

 

“It’s suppose to be corrosive,” Jeno recalled. He helped Renjun get back up on his feet, patting his back some more. “Vapors are dangerous, Renjun, are you okay?”

 

Renjun wiped away the tears in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just want some fresh air.”

 

“Taeyong, my wrist hurts,” Chen Le cried out, forming some tears of his own. “And m-my arm-”

 

Taeyong grabbed some bandages from the first aid kit and wrapped it tightly on Chen Le’s wrist, the latter crying out. “We’ll get you a doctor when we get out of here, okay? Jeno, help me, we have to pop his arm back in place-”

 

“Isn’t that supposed to hu-” Jeno started saying, getting hushed by Taeyong. “Okay, I’ll help.”

 

“Jaehyun, here it says you have to wash it thoroughly for 15 minutes in warm water and with soap and water,” Jaemin said, reading from the manual that he had found hanging on the wall. 

 

Jaehyun pulled Jisung towards the sink and turned it on full blast, ignoring the water splashing on them. “Keep it in the water, I’m going to find some soap.”

 

Jeno took off his jacket and put the sleeves in Chen Le’s mouth. “Here, bite down on this.”

 

“On the count of three, Jeno.” Taeyong and Jeno held firmly to Chen Le’s arm while Renjun covered his mouth. The last thing they needed was to make more noise. “One, two…”

 

Chen Le let out a muffled scream when Taeyong and Jeno put it back in place.

 

“You know, I think the sulfuric acid would be a good weapon,” Jisung said, arm still in the sink. “We should find more.”
 

***

 

Jihoon, Soonyoung, Kun and Xiaojun ran back to the doors, Kun frantically scanning his ID and typing the electronic password before they scrambled in, making it barely in time.

 

All of the entrances in the school had two sets of double glass doors, so they were in the little room between the doors. They tried to catch their breath, ignoring the aliens pounding the door from outside. They were so thankful that they couldn’t break glass. 

 

Xiaojun collapsed on the floor, still not used to having energy.

 

“, Xiaojun.” Kun helped Xiaojun sit up, the latter struggling to breath. “Are you okay?”

 

After a few seconds gasping for air, Xiaojun said, “I’m going to let that dumb question slide since we’re literally in the face of death.”

 

Jihoon looked out the window and saw an alien in the distance with a brick. “Kun, quick, what’s the pass code?”

 

Kun handed him his card. “8543,” he said, carrying Xiaojun up in his arms. Xiaojun was still struggling to breath, and some blood was seeping through his bandages. “, your injuries are getting worse.”

 

Jihoon swiped the card and typed up the numbers, opening the door to let them in. “What are we supposed to do now?”

 

“The office is the most guarded place,” Kun said, getting inside with Xiaojun in his arms. “It has the nurse’s office, anyways.”

 

“This isn’t the same door we came out of,” Soonyoung said, ushering Jihoon in. They were now back inside the school in the hallway. “Which way is the office?”

 

“Supposed to be close, but…” Kun held Xiaojun up higher, his hands trembling. He wasn’t good at carrying weight, which is why he dragged Xiaojun earlier. “My keys are in this pocket, we should probably head into a classroom first.”

 

Jihoon felt Kun’s front pockets, taking out the set of keys. “Why do you even have keys and access to the double doors?” Jihoon asked him. That’s not how things worked in America. 

 

“Vice president,” Kun explained. “But I really don’t do anything. Taeyong does the bulk of the work. Vice presidents don’t have many responsibilities.”

 

“Ooh, student government, that was great,” Soonyoung said. “I was treasurer.”

 

“He somehow got a lot of money for prom,” Jihoon agreed.

 

Soonyoung frowned. “You went to prom?”

 

Jihoon scoffed. “No. They passed videos of it during homeroom the Monday afterwards.” He unlocked the closest classroom near them. “I never went to a school dance.”

 

“You missed out. Senior prom really was the .” To Xiaojun and Kun, he said, “We got away with sneaking alcohol, prom date gave the best head, and my best friend was prom king.”

 

Jihoon ran his hand through his hair. “Your best friend is the Mexican kid, right?”

 

Soonyoung’s face got red. “I-I mean, he was.” He pushed Kun into the room, who was still holding Xiaojun. “We have to hurry and not make noise.”

 

Kun set down Xiaojun on a desk. They were in the general art classroom., so the desks were bigger and more spread out.

 

The first aid kit was near the teacher’s desk (bless schools for having one in every classroom.) He took it back to where Xiaojun was and opened it while stealing a glance at Jihoon, who was keeping a neutral expression. He looked… sad, though.

 

“I thought you guys were twenty-six?” he asked, taking out the alcohol as Xiaojun unwrapped the dirty bandages from his arms. “How long have you known each other?”

 

“Almost two decades,” Jihoon said, chewing his bottom lip. 

 

“He helped me settle in when I arrived at the orphanage,” Soonyoung explained. “Birth giver abandoned me.”

 

Kun frowned. “Wait, that long? Shouldn’t you two be best friends?"

 

“We are best friends,” Soonyoung interrupted him, getting defensive. “Nothing’s changing that.”

 

Kun shrugged. They were just two adults helping him avoid some aliens, he shouldn’t get into their personal lives. “Whatever you say.”