Mark and Haechan couldn’t sleep because of the pounding. 

 

“Jesus Christ, how is their arm not tired?” Haechan yelled, getting off of Mark’s arm to stand next to the door. Mark was kind of glad, since his arm was losing circulation, bu-but it was Haechan…

 

“Don’t you do open the door,” Mark warned him. 

 

“We haven’t even been on the ground for like five minutes.” Haechan pushed a desk next to the door, stacking a chair above it. “Maybe we can attack him from above.”

 

Mark got up from the ground. “What do you mean attack him?”

 

Haechan went to the counter, where Mr. Park kept copies of the textbooks used in class, thick hardcovers that surely cost two hundred dollars each only for you to read three pages.  Grabbing a handful each time, he stacked them on top of the chair above the desk. “Mark, the ceiling tiles.” 

 

The school has ceiling tiles from above, where you could push them up or even take them off. Some teachers would let their students paint on them, while others would push them up slightly to hang stuff from the borders. 

 

“What about the ceiling tiles?” Mark asked, watching Haechan continuing to stack textbooks. It was getting pretty high now. 

 

“If you push it upwards, you can see everything above,” Haechan explained. He got on the desk, aligning the textbooks better so that they don’t wobble. “And if I’m above, I can lift that tile from here, and see what’s going on from above there.” 

 

Mark held onto the stack of books with one hand, helping Haechan get up with the other one. “Don’t make noise, you don’t want him to notice you staring at him.”

 

“I want to drop something on his head, but…” Haechan squeezed Mark’s hand and lifted his leg on the top of the books, heaving himself to the top. The books wobbled a bit, but Mark helped him stay in place. “Man, this is really unstable.” 

 

Haechan held his hands out, trying to maintain balance. “This is harder than what it looks like in the movies.”

 

“Stay there.” Mark grabbed the flashlight (which they had standing up to illuminate the entire room) and headed towards the locked cubicles, unlocking them with the pin. “Mr. Park must have something dangerous in this room.”

 

“That’s usually his jokes.” Haechan pushed up on the ceiling, moving the tile to the side. “They make me want to die.”

 

Mark opened the door of the cubby and shined the flashlight around, trying to dig through some stuff. “All I found is some rubbing alcohol.”

 

“The fire extinguisher would be more useful.” Mark couldn’t see, but he was pretty sure Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Can you at least try to find another flashlight? I can’t see over here.”

 

Mark grabbed the globe off of Mr. Park’s desk and handed it to Haechan, shining the light on him again. “This should do some brain damage.”

 

“Starting to think someone dropped one on me when I was a child,” Haechan muttered. He grabbed the globe with one hand and set it inside the ceiling, trying to find the tile that would be in the hallway. “No noise, Mark.”

 

Mark made a motion of zipping his lips shut, and that’s when Haechan set his plan in action. 

 

He lifted the tile slowly, trying to not make any noise. There, he could see the blank-faced man, continuing to pound on the metal door. They must not have any brains since he clearly couldn’t tell that the metal door wasn’t going to budge.

 

Kind of reminded him of Mark. Donghyuck, for a few years, thought that Mark was dense and oblivious to notice Haechan’s feelings for him, but Haechan found out it was because it wasn’t mutual, so…

 

Eh, Mark was a really dense person. Jisung has gotten angry with him multiple times over how Mark just doesn’t get the joke. Pretty infuriating to watch.

 

Haechan grabbed the globe carefully, ready to launch it at the man’s face. He ruined karaoke night, goddammit, and was trying to kill them, so he deserved to get an whooping. 

 

However, Mark suddenly got the urge to sneeze, and he did, covering his face with his arm out of habit. He let go of Haechan’s legs and bump into him, causing Donghyuck to lose his balance. 

 

Haechan let go of the globe, which fell a few feet of the man. The man saw the commotion from above and started shrieking at him, jumping an impossible height to grab a hold of Donghyuck’s neck and pulling him forward.

 

Haechan started choking, arms trying to pry the man off him, his legs falling off of the textbooks and was now only being held up by the man from the other side of the wall. 

 

“HAECHAN!!” Mark dropped the flashlight and wrapped his hands around Haechan’s torse and tried to pull him down, hearing the other struggling to breath. 

 

No, please don’t let anything happen to him, please don’t let anything happen to him, not his best friend, not Haechan-

 

It was only making it worse, though. Desperate, Mark looked around and saw the textbooks, handing one to Haechan. “Haechan, just chuck him with this, please!”

 

Haechan struggled to grab the book, his legs kicking the wall as he tried to push himself off the man’s embrace. Somehow, he managed to get ahold of it and hit the guy’s head with it, the latter letting go of his neck. 

 

Mark wrapped his hands around Haechan’s waist again before the latter fell, falling on Mark as they tumbled down to the floor. 

 

They stayed in that position for about a minute, Donghyuck gasping for air and Mark calming him down, rubbing the sore spots on Haechan’s neck with one hand as his other held Haechan firmly tight to his chest. 

 

They continued to hear more pounding outside. 

 

***

 

The Dream unit members were sitting on the desk tables while Jaehyun and Taeyong drew on the white board, forming a plan. 

 

“We all promised to meet at the main office.” Jaehyun drew a map of the school on the whiteboard as quickly as he could, pinpointing certain locations. “This is the classroom where the WayV unit is…” he circled a little square that he had drawn. “This is the 127 unit…” he circled two more. “And here is where we are. As far as we known, Xiaojun and Kun plus those two NASA people are in the office, right here, and Mark’s and Haechan’s whereabouts are unknown.”

 

“Will they be okay?” Jeno asked. 

 

“Haechan will annoy the aliens to death, I’m sure we’re fine.” Jaehyun drew arrows in the drawn hallways. “Besides, he has Mark with him.”

 

“They are a really lovely couple,” Taeyong muttered.

 

“Oh, if the apocalypse doesn’t make Mark man up, I don’t know what will.” Jaehyun put the cap on the marker and pointed at the drawing. “So we are here right now, and we’re going to the office. The other two units should be there. Jaemin, you got the sulfuric acid, right?”

 

Jaemin nodded, setting two new bottles of the chemical on the counter in front of the whiteboard.

 

“Okay, we all have to make sure not to spill it.” Jaehyun reached underneath the counter and pulled out two boxes, setting them on the counter. “Everyone will wrap these bandages tightly around your arm, regardless of injury or not. We shouldn’t have any bare skin.”

 

“You and Jisung don’t have shirts, though,” Taeyong pointed out. “And there’s no more jackets.”

 

Jaehyun held out his hand. “Taeyong, can I see your master keys for a minute?”

 

Confused, Taeyong reached into his pocket and took them out, handing them to Jaehyun. “What for?”

 

“Do you know whose classroom we just destroyed?” Jaehyun reminded him. 

 

“Uh… no…”

 

“This is Mr. Kim’s classroom.”

 

“... Jaehyun, there’s like ten Mr. Kim’s in this school.”

 

“Kim Kibum,” Jaehyun told him. 

 

Taeyong shrugged. “What about it?”

 

Jaehyun walked towards one of the floor-length cabinets in the room, opening it with the keys. He opened the door and revealed there to be hanging a few shirts and jackets. “That man is always prepared for a fashion emergency.”

 

“All his clothes are ugly, though,” Renjun piped up. 

 

“Ugly clothes are better than no clothes,” Jisung muttered, walking to the cabinets and pulling out a black leather jacket. “No idea why he keeps this here, but I’m going to look bad in it.”

 

“Damn it, I was going to wear that,” Jaehyun said. He pulled out a denim jacket. “These are actually some pretty cool clothes, Renjun, you have no idea what you’re talking about."

 

Renjun rolled his eyes. “Rather die than wear that.”

 

“Door’s right over there,” Jisung pointed, grabbing a Gucci shirt and slipping it over his head, jacket following suit. “Why does he have this in here?”

 

“Prada is better than Gucci,” Chen Le muttered. 

 

Jaehyun pulled out a Reebok's shirt and put it on, the denim jacket following afterwards. “Jeno, come here, you don’t have a jacket.”

 

He tossed him a hoodie to which Jeno put on, despite being too big for it.

 

“There should still be a safer way of launching the acid at them without it splashing,” Jaemin suggested. 

 

Chen Le got out of his desk, running towards the back. “We can use the pipettes! The gigantic ones with the 2000 millimetres or whatever.”

 

“Don’t you mean micro-liters?” Jisung asked. 

 

Chen Le took the box that was next to the sink with his one good hand and placed it on the counter, sticking his tongue out. “I don’t need a science lesson right now, we’re after school.”

 

“And about to die,” Renjun whispered, rolling his eyes again.

 

Jisung mocked a gasp. “Excuse me, Chen Le, I am injured.” He pulled up the jacket sleeves to reveal the tremendous amount of bandages wrapped around his forearm. “I could get cancer and die in this exact minute-”

 

“Can you guys stop talking about death for a minute?” Taeyong interrupted. “We don’t need that mentality right now, we just need to focus on going to the office and going home.” 

 

“You’re ruining the purpose of Gen Z,” Renjun argued. “Boomer.”

 

“I am not a-”

 

“Taeyong.” Jaehyun covered Taeyong’s mouth with his hand and led him back to the front of the room. “No yelling. Guys,” he turned back to the Dream unit members. “Do you want the others here to die?” 

 

“NOT JENO!” Renjun yelled, wrapping his arms around said Jeno. “You have to stay alive, mister,” Renjun told him. 

 

Taeyong uncapped the marker that Jaehyun had earlier and started writing a checklist on the board. “We’re going to need these supplies.”
 

***

 

“I can’t believe you split everyone into two groups,” Ten muttered, following Johnny as he held his hand.

 

“Technically, I did not, since they’re like thirty feet behind us.” Johnny glanced behind them, where Doyoung, Si Cheng, Yuta, Hendery, and Yangyang stayed behind.

 

They had decided to stay together, since there was strength in numbers. However, what people won’t tell you was that it was also loudness in numbers, so if they maintained some distance between them, everything would be good. 

 

Although, to be fair, the loud ones were quiet for once. Paranoia would do that to you.

 

“I’m really glad the cafeteria is on the way to the office,” Jungwoo said (his normal voice was already quiet, so at least they knew he was going to survive. Yangyang and Hendery? Not much.)

 

“Isn’t it weird that all the unit meetings were on the first floor today?” Taeil asked them. “At least there’s no running down the stairs and .”

 

Johnny and Lucas looked at each, having the same idea. 

 

“What if-”

 

“-we go upstairs-”

 

“-run around free-”

 

“AND JUST GET DOWN FROM THE WINDOWS?!” They both shouted at each other.

 

Taeil clasped both his hands on their mouths. “Are you trying to get us ing killed??” he harshly whispered at them.

 

Johnny pried his hands off him. “On the contrary, Taeil, we’re trying to save us.”

 

“Johnny, no offense, but that idea isn’t going to work!” Ten whisper-yelled at him. “How do we know they’re not upstairs?”

 

“Ah, come on, why would they be upstairs?” Johnny asked him. “I’m sure the plan would work.”

 

“Are you sure?” Taeil asked. “It’s already a lot of work, and what if there’s more of them outside-”

 

“Then we can just look out the windows and check,” Lucas suggested. “Better safe than sorry-"

 

“Guys.” They turned around to see Doyoung. “Why did you guys stop, now what’s going on?”

 

“These two have the bright idea to go upstairs and jump out the windows instead,” Taeil explained. 

 

Doyoung pondered in thought. “That might work-"

 

“Doyoung! Are you ing insane? How can you agree with these idiots?”

 

“Uh, GUYS!” they heard Si Cheng yelled, who was pointing at two men who were near the end of the hallway. “What’s the plan, hit or run-”

 

“Yeah, I’M RUNNING-”

 

“YANGYANG, NO-”

 

Yangyang tried to run but was pulled back by an angry Hendery, causing them to both topple on the floor. It must have angered the two aliens, who were now sprinting their way.

 

“I’M TIRED OF THESE MOTHERERS!!” Yuta yelled, rolling his sleeves up before charging headfirst towards the men, who punched him, causing him to practically fly a good few meters away and landed back on the group’s feet, landing harshly on the floor. 

 

Everyone started shouting obscenities and random in their native languages, while Johnny and Lucas ran towards the men, wrapping their hands around the aliens’ neck, who reciprocated the action, now the four in a battle for air.

 

“Johnny!!” Ten went behind the alien and pulled him away from his boyfriend. 

 

Meanwhile, Lucas was now in a wrestling match with the other, who then threw him against the locker. 

 

“HENDERY, GIVE ME THE GODDAMN POCKET KNIFE!” Doyoung yelled, searching Hendery’s pockets who was still on the ground with Yangyang, the two rubbing the sore spots on their heads.

Si Cheng was pulling an unconscious Yuta away from the commotion, Jungwoo doing the same to Lucas, and Taeil launching at the alien who pushed Lucas, punching them as hard as he could. 

 

Doyoung went to Ten and Johnny first. “Guys, I’m going to slit his throat, be careful-”

 

“Deal with the other one,” Ten said, before snapping the alien's neck.

 

Johnny fell to the ground, rubbing his sore neck, while Doyoung continuously stabbed the other alien from behind, the green ooze spilling everywhere. 

 

Everyone paused to take a deep breath, except an unconscious Yuta, until they saw three more men appear at the end of the hallway. 

 

“Not this again,” Lucas muttered, feeling a bump on the back of his head starting to form. 

 

Doyoung wiped the pocket knife on his jeans. “Looks like we have to teach these a lesson, too.”


***

 

“There you go,” Kun said, wrapping the last bandages on Xiaojun. 

 

Xiaojun looked like he really wanted to sleep; his eyes were droopy, he would yawn every minute, and he could barely sit up straight. 

 

He nodded towards the latter. “Thanks, Kun.”

 

Meanwhile, Soonyoung and Jihoon were talking to each other in English, giving the two students (who they were pretty sure are a couple) some privacy. 

 

“Look, clearly these aliens have some type of shape shifting ability,” Soonyoung explained. “Although why they all have the same mold is really creepy.”

 

“Yeah, but their bodies adapted to how a human body works if you think about it,” Jihoon said. “Like, where those other students injured them is exactly how you would injure a body, so maybe they are human?”

 

“How would you explain the green liquid, though.”

 

“Yeah, didn’t think of that.”

 

Silence.

 

They didn’t speak to each other for a bit, instead, focused on how Kun and Xiaojun were interacting. Kun had just grabbed a disposable cup from the counter and filled it with water from the sick, offering it to Xiaojun who took a few sips. 

 

Kun was whispering something, ruffling Xiaojun’s hair while the latter blushed. He offered the cup of water to Kun, who hesitatingly grabbed it before taking some sips of his own. 

 

“Do you remember my first few days in the orphanage?” Soonyoung asked Jihoon. “In our shared room, how I would cry instead of sleeping, and you would tell me different stories.”

 

Jihoon nodded. “Yeah, neither would get any sleep.”

 

“Yeah, I kept asking questions about everything.” Soonyoung laughed. “There was the alien story that you would tell me.”

 

Jihoon smiled a little at the memory. “The one where they were abducted and forced to eat mayo?”

 

“I was honestly scared less that I would be forced to eat mayo,” Soonyoung admitted. “Although now that scenario is a thousand times better than the one were are in now.”

 

“All the stories that I made were pretty stupid,” Jihoon admitted. “Like the aliens, the president, mafias, getting- uh, well, you know.”

 

“I thought they were cool,” Soonyoung said. “They definitely help me feel better.”

 

Jihoon wrapped his arms around himself. “If you say so.”
 

 

***

 

Haechan got off of Mark after a few minutes, feeling a bit better.

 

“Haechan, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to sneeze,” Mark rambled until Haechan put his hand over Mark’s mouth.

 

“Please don’t start with your apologies, it’s okay, it was an accident.” Haechan smiled at him, and god, did Mark feel his heart lurch out of his chest. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

 

“Only you can remain this optimistic when you were literally being choked to death a few minutes ago,” Mark said.

 

“Better than Renjun. Knowing him, he’s made at least two death comments by now.”

 

Mark nodded, agreeing with Haechan’s words, but then he frowned. “How do you think they’re doing?”

 

Haechan shrugged. “This serial killer is obsessed with us, they probably just went home."

 

“Yeah, hopefully.” 

 

They sat there for a while, the forgotten flashlight light making a soft glow, pointed towards one of the walls. It was still pretty dark, but Mark could still see Haechan’s face. 

 

“I really did think I lost you,” Mark whispered.

 

“Yeah, my idea was kind of stupid,” Haechan admitted. 

 

For a minute, Mark did think that he was going to lose his best friend. They were stuck here for who knows how long, and because of his stupid mistake, his friend could of lost his life. 

 

He had to tell him now. He didn’t know how much time he had left with Haechan. 

 

Mark’s heart was beating really fast now, almost having a feeling of being choked himself. The room had been getting hot for a while now, but now it was really making him sweat. 

 

… “Donghyuck?”

 

“Uh, yeah?”

 

Don’t do it, hoe, don’t do it- “I need to tell you something.”

 

Donghyuck shrugged. “Go ahead.”

 

No, no, no, you’re going to ruin everything that you have- “I just don’t want to ruin anything, I’m letting you know.”

 

Donghyuck frowned. “Uh… okay? Literally, Mark, tell me, what is it?”

 

Don’t do it, Mark, don’t do it, you don’t know if he feels-

 

“I love you.”