Soonyoung was carrying Jihoon in his arms deep in the forest, trying to not make any sound in order to prevent any aliens finding out their location. 

 

Jihoon really wanted to protest against being carried, but his ankle really did hurt and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to walk, so he was stuck being helpless, just like always. 

 

Plus, there was the fact that if they argued, aliens would come over and they would die. Which is supposed to be unfortunate. 

 

“I think this is God telling us that we never should've majored in astrophysics,” Jihoon said, looking around. (There’s not much you can do while being carried by someone, after all.) “We should have done something boring like economics and be done with it.”

 

“Man, social studies,” Soonyoung said, lifting Jihoon up higher. He was thankful to have done sports in high school. “No, maybe this is a sign saying that it was a good thing we took astrophysics.”

 

Jihoon swung his foot a bit, being careful not to hit Soonyoung. “Still weird how we majored in the same thing despite not talking to each other for over six years.”

 

Soonyoung shrugged. “Well, I don’t blame you for unfriending me on facebook, I did become a jerk to you in high school,” he said.

 

“I know it’s not your fault, I was pretty boring back then, I guess- wait.” Jihoon frowned, fully processing Soonyoung’s words. “I unfriended you on Facebook?”

 

“Yeah, it’s why we stopped talking, remember?” Soonyoung said. “And you’re not boring, we talked about this.”

 

Jihoon wanted to prove Soonyoung wrong about how boring he was, but he was still confused about the Facebook thing. “I never unfriended you on Facebook,” he said. “You unfriended me. I was happy seeing your upcoming graduation and college plans with your friends, I always liked every post.”

 

“Maybe Facebook glitched or something,” Soonyoung said. “Or maybe I was hacked? I don’t know, I would have never unfriended you on purpose,” he said. “Only my mom has my Facebook password anyways-”

 

Soonyoung stopped walking abruptly, startling Jihoon. “Do you hear that?” he asked him. 

 

Jihoon stared at his surroundings, despite it almost being dark and him not being able to ing see. “I can’t see anything nor can I hear anything,” he said. “What do you hear?”

 

Soonyoung didn’t say anything, straining to hear whatever sound he heard the first time again, so Jihoon tapped his arm. “Hoshi, put me down-”

 

“No,” Soonyoung said, hugging Jihoon tighter to his chest. “I don’t… I don't think it's safe here.”

 

“Obviously not, there’s ing aliens infested here,” Jihoon said. He sighed, going limp in Soonyoung’s arms. “Well, clearly I’m not going to survive to have any bagel bite again.:

 

Soonyoung started walking a bit faster, hugging Jihoon tightly so as to not let go. “We have to get out of here,” he said, dashing the opposite way from where they were going. “We need to leave-”

 

“KWON SOONYOUNG, IF YOU DON’T ING PUT ME DOWN-” Jihoon yelled in English, trying to kick Soonyoung with his ankle (the unharmed one, he’s not a masochist on purpose - he thinks). “I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON’T PUT ME DOWN-”

 

Jihoon felt Soonyoung’s hand cover his mouth, and before he could react, he could hear some screeching sounds. 

 

“I don’t know if those are the aliens or the teenagers being really extra,” Soonyoung said as he continued to speed walk away from there (he would have ran, but since he was carrying Jihoon, he had to be careful; if Soonyoung fell, they were both screwed.) “But that’s our queue to leave.”

 

“The fact that you know there are aliens and yet you think the teens are being extra makes me wonder if you know what comes out of your mouth,” Jihoon said.

 

“Hey, if I were a young rebel out to destroy society and wear heelys in the hallway, I would absolutely be extra in the face of death,” Soonyoung said. “Now let’s get out of this stupid forest.”
 

 

***

 

Seven of them, consisting of Mark, Haechan, Jeno, Jisung, Chen Le, Kun and Xiaojun, found themselves on a side of the road after having ran away from the commotion, the five of them panting for breath.

 

Well, only six of them, since Xiaojun was unconscious in Kun’s arms.

 

Haechan was the first one to speak up, forcefully removing his hand from Mark’s grip. “Why the did you drag me here?!” he yelled at him. “We just left the others in danger!!”

 

“Haechan, all of us are in danger!!” Mark yelled back at him. “I’m just trying to keep us safe!”

 

“So??” Haechan screamed. 

 

“Woah, their first fight as boyfriends,” Jisung whispered, only letting the others here. 

 

Jeno frowned. “But yesterday they argued about whether Ukiss or Marina and the Diamonds were better.”

 

“They weren’t dating yesterday,” Jisung reminded them.
 

“Can you guys argue some other time?” Kun yelled at Mark and Haechan. “Who cares who did what, blame the adrenaline, now we need to find a hospital.”

 

“He looks dead,” Jisung said, staring at the very pale Xiaojun. “Didn’t he lose blood earlier?”

 

Chen Le pointed at Kun’s shoulder. “Is that his blood?? How much blood did Xiaojun lose?”

 

“No, that’s my blood, I got stabbed,” Kun said nonchalantly. 

 

“Oh, so you’re just going to forget that part while looking for a hospital,” Mark said sarcastically. 

 

Haechan looked around the road. The sun was going to set in a few minutes, if he calculated it correctly, and since they were surrounded by trees, there weren’t any streetlights. “Why don’t we just stay here and wait for a car to come?” he told the group. “There’s always cars passing by here when I take walks alone.”

 

“We can’t wait, he’s unconscious!” Kun shouted, trying to lift up Xiaojun higher. Damn, he really should have done sports, his arms were weak as . “Do any of you have O negative blood?”

 

“I don’t think I have blood,” Chen Le said. 

 

“My arms do burn a lot,” Jisung said, staring at his arms. “But how far away is the nearest hospital? Do we even know any hospitals around here?”

 

Jeno hugged Chen Le from behind, his arms shaking. He missed his mom, he wanted to go back home and see her. “Can’t we walk to find a car?” he asked, his voice trembling. “I don’t want to be around those aliens anymore.”

 

The group all looked at each other in silence, not knowing what to do. 

 

“Like half of us are injured,” Mark pointed out, “so it’s best if we find help as soon as possible, we can’t really wait.”

 

Haechan crossed his arms. He was still mad Mark dragged him away from all the action, but some of them were injured, and it would be selfish to not help them get aid. Plus, knowing Mark, he was going to give Haechan a bull excuse like he couldn’t lose him or some . “We should come back afterwards, though,” he said. “To go help the others.”

 

Chen Le grabbed Jeno’s hands and wrapped them closer to his stomach. “So we walk?” he asked tentatively.

 

Kun stepped onto the road, walking forward. “We walk.”

 

***

 

Taeyong was really tired, but like really tired. 

 

There weren’t any more aliens that he could see in the meantime, but it was a mess; the whole group was scrambled. A couple of people appeared to be missing and with the huge number of people here, it was hard to see who was gone. 

 

He leaned against a tear, eyes shut as he took deep breaths, dropping his knife to the floor. His calves were cramping and he felt something slice his face earlier, blood trickling down his face. 

 

Taeyong slid down on the floor, eyes opening a bit. The group appeared to be arguing with each other again, some looking for the others who went missing. He heard bits and pieces here and there, but his heart was thumping too loud for him to make out anything in particular. 

 

He heard someone walk to his left, so he turned his head to see Jaehyun, who was staring at him wide-eyed. 

 

“Are you okay?” Taeyong croaked out, still struggling for air. He was really worn out and he felt like he was going to collapse any second now. 

 

Jaehyun nodded rapidly. “I’m fine, yeah, um-” he scratched the back of his neck, and Taeyong wasn’t sure if Jaehyun was turning red or not, since it was really close to getting dark in a few minutes. “You just… you just fight good.”

 

Taeyong raised his eyes at Jaehyun’s statement. “Um- not really,” he said, though he couldn’t help but grin a little. “I mean, I studied martial arts for a bit.”

 

“That’s- oh god, that’s actually really impressive,” Jaehyun said. “No wonder you’re good, meanwhile, I get stabbed like three times-”

 

Taeyong leapt up from his spot on the ground, running towards Jaehyun instantly. “You got stabbed?!?!”

 

“No, I mean- hey, don’t worry, I was just exaggerating,” Jaehyun said, holding Taeyong away from him. “Really.”

 

“You- you shouldn’t joke about that,” Taeyong mumbled, looking away in embarrassment. He didn’t know Jaehyun was joking. 

 

“Yeah, I only got stabbed twice,” Jaehyun said, extending out his leg. There was a big red stain on his lower left leg, part of the jeans torn. “It doesn’t really hurt-”

 

“JAEHYUN!” Taeyong got down on his knees in front of Jaehyun, rolling up his jeans where he could see his wound. “Oh no, it’s really dirty, you have to clean it or it’s going to get infected-”

 

“I’m fine,” Jaehyun said, only to get ignored by Taeyong as the latter got up to make him sit down. “Taeyong, I’m really fine-”

 

Taeyong slipped off the backpack he had had on and ped it, pulling out the first aid kit that he had stuffed in there. “There should be rubbing alcohol in here, I’m not sure if there’s gauze, a lot of us have been using it-”

 

“I mean, I’m sure if I tie a shirt around it, it’ll be okay,” Jaehyun said jokingly. (Well, his tone was in a joking manner, but he was pretty sure it would be alright if he just pressed a shirt against the wound.) “I mean, at least it’s not as bad as the one on my arm-”

 

As soon as Jaehyun said that, he regretted it; Taeyong looked up to him with such a worried look in his eyes that instantly made him feel guilty.

 

Now, the one in his arm was aching pretty bad, but Taeyong didn’t need to know that. “I’m just kidding,” he said, bringing his leg closer to him to look at. “I can take care of it, go check out the others, I think they said something like Chen Le and Jisung were missing?”

 

Taeyong didn’t say anything as he lifted up Jaehyun’s arm, exposing his tricep. It was indeed worst than his calf; the skin was pictured, and the blood oozing out of it wasn’t all red, it was mixed with- 

 

Green. 

 

“Why is this- why is there green in here?” Taeyong said, frowning. He ripped off a piece of shirt, ignoring Jaehyun’s protests of that not being really necessary, and dabbed it at the wound, staring at the green liquid mixed with the blood in disgust. 

 

“Looks like their blood,” Jaehyun commented, thinking of how the aliens spilled a similar substance when they were slain. “That’s actually really weird-”

 

Taeyong dug through the bag until he pulled out a bottle of alcohol, Jaehyun instantly grimaced. Curse alcohol getting rid of infections. “Some of their own blood must've gotten on you with your wound since it’s open,” he said, dabbing some of the liquid on a cotton pad. “We have to clean it and then disinfect it-”

 

“What about your face?” Jaehyun asked, watching as Taeyong wiped away as much blood as possible with the torn part of his shirt. “You’re hurting too- HOLY -”

 

Taeyong pulled the alcohol-infused cotton pad away from his arm. “Sorry,” he said.

 

Jaehyun gritted his teeth for a few seconds, forcing himself not to scream. God, how he always hated rubbing alcohol. “I’d rather drink alcohol then put it on me,” he muttered. “You know what, just let me bleed to death.”

 

Ignoring the latter being dramatic (being the leader of the 127 unit here at school teaches you a lot of things), Taeyong held out the cotton pad to Jaehyun. “You can do it if you want, I know it hurts.” He wiped his forehead with his sleeve, feeling how a mixture of blood and sweat smeared over the side of his face. 

 

“Your eyebrow.” Jaehyun pressed a finger against Taeyong’s eyebrow, which was indeed bleeding. Something appeared to have sliced it, a long straight line going through it. “Doesn’t that hurt-”

 

“Are you two going to keep flirting with each other?!” Jaehyun and Taeyong both turned around to see Doyoung. “Do you not realize they’re like seven people missing?”

 

“We weren’t- no we’re not-” Taeyong stammered, his face getting red as he stepped away from Jaehyun. “He’s hurt.”

 

“Clearly, you have not seen my flirting tricks,” Jaehyun told Doyoung. “Also, I’ve been stabbed, I can do what I want.”

 

“Well, good for you for getting injured like the rest of us,” Doyoung said. “You guys can go on your date after we go home, now come on Taeyong, we have to regroup.” He grabbed Taeyong’s arm and pulled him towards him, the two walking away from Jaehyun. “Jaehyun, do something stupid for what I care.”

 

“‘Don’t test me, I’ll take that seriously,” Jaehyun said, following the two towards the center, as he ignored the pain in his arm.

 

***

 

Si Cheng sat on top of a boulder he found nearby, sitting on it while sighing at the argument going on. 

 

Literally they have done nothing today. You would think life would get more excited if there were aliens and you were defeating them with your friends and classmates, but noooooooooooo, these people wanted to argue and whine about a scratch while those with stab wounds forgot they had stabbed wounds. 

 

They have fought for, like, a total of ten minutes. God, how Si Cheng hoped this wasn’t a story or movie, because if it was, it would have low reviews; no one would want to hear his inner dialogue of all the yogurt waiting for him back home. 

 

He rested his head on his hands, sighing, as he tuned out the conversation the rest were having. 

 

“You know, I’m not surprised Mark and Haechan are gone, they probably went to ,” Johnny said. “But like… Kun? How did he get lost, he probably knows how to travel by stars or .”

 

“Didn’t Xiaojun faint or something?” Taeil asked him. 

 

“Wait, since when are Mark and Haechan ing??” Yuta screamed at Johnny. “How was I not informed??”

 

“Bro, it was when me and Lucas went with Doyoung to go find them-”

 

Jaehyun rolled his eyes. “I don’t think now is the appropriate time to hear about their life- no, more like EVER.”

 

“I wonder if I won the bet,” Ten said. “Who confessed first-”

 

Renjun came by to sit next to Si Cheng, resting his head on his hands as he looked gloomy. “I want to fight aliens or go home and sleep, not argue about plans and , damn, I don’t even know what I’m doing for dinner.”

 

Si Cheng nodded. “Same.”

 

They looked up to see Yangyang coming towards them, Hendery in tow. “China squad!!” he shouted, sitting next to Si Cheng on the ground, Hendery copying him. “I’ll force Lucas to come here in five minutes or something.”

 

“Oh, god, they’re going to argue for more time?!” Renjun yelled, standing up. “ers and dips! Can we go now?!?! Who cares about not dying at this point, even death is more fun than this!!”

 

“RENJUN, KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN,” Doyoung yelled at him much louder. “You want more aliens?!”

 

“ YEAH, BRING THE ALIENS!!” Renjun shouted back, the two soon involved in a screaming match. 

 

Si Cheng brought his knees to his chest, forcing himself not to scream. He was never going to get out of here. 

 

It was now officially dark outside, and since they were in the forest, it was very hard to see. If they had flashlights earlier, like Taeyong, they were long dead, and now they only had the moon’s light to lead them to death or to their beds. 

 

He felt someone touch his hair, so he looked up and see Yuta standing in front of him, a sad smile on his face. “You okay?”

 

Si Cheng shook his head. “I’m tired and bored, and you guys are either arguing about who’s right or Mark and Haechan ing.”

 

“Hey, that last part will determine if I get twenty bucks or not,” Yuta pointed out. “But… yeah, I guess it looks like we’re in a dead end.”

 

Si Cheng laid his head on his knees again, pouting. “A few weekends ago, I was having fun at your party,” he said, “and now I’m listening to people argue in the forest while we’re dying."

 

Yuta grinned. “You had fun? I didn’t know.”

 

Si Cheng gave him a look. “I didn’t take you for an idiot, Yuta.”

 

“Sorry, sorry, let me just enjoy the ego boost for a minute- woah, what is that?” he said, pointing at something in the distance. “Finally! A source of light- other than you, of course.”

 

“Oh, hell no, we are not entering cheesy lines or nicknames in our relationship yet,” Si Cheng warned him, getting up to see what Yuta was pointing at. It was dark after all- well, that’s what he thought. 

 

There were small beams of light coming from the distance, appearing to be of some part of a building or construction thing. 

 

“People are here to save us, oh thank god I can go back to streaming TVXQ!” Yuta shouted, grabbing Si Cheng’s hand and making him run with him. “Guys!! We’re saved!!” 

 

“What are you talking about- yo, what’s that?!” Jaemin exclaimed excitedly, pointing at what Yuta had been talking about. “Let’s go!!}"

 

Jaehyun pulled Jaemin back, wincing in pain. “Yuta, come back here you idiot!!” he yelled. “What if it’s the police and they think we’re one of them?!”

 

“It’s not, I’m pretty sure!!” Yuta shouted, staring at the group who were giving him worried looks. “We should be able to find the main streets from here-”

 

What Yuta and Si Cheng didn’t know was that a figure appeared right behind them.