The sunlight was especially bright today as birds chirped all around. The soft whistle of the wind could be heard around them. Monday was the first to wake up, though tangled in between Jaehee and Jiyoon. She groaned while carefully getting out of bed, trying her best not to disturb them. After some stumbling and trips, Monday stopped right before the door and stretched. Opening it, she then entered the store again to use the bathroom as Zoa stirred awake as well before shaking Soojin since it was already morning. Minutes later, everyone was now up and somewhat looking fresh after washing their faces. Jihan thankfully found some toothbrushes in the store that were still new…but no toothpaste.

“How are we gonna use these then?” Monday scrunched up her nose a little. 

“Guess we’ll just resort to just rinsing our mouths with sink water….” They all sighed, having no other choices but to agree with Zoa’s suggestion. 

“I know we’re in the middle of nowhere, but do you think there’s any places around here that stand out?”Jaehee asked, which certainly made the girls wonder. 

“Well first, we need a map.” 

“You mean this?” Jiyoon said while holding a large, folded paper. 

Zoa gasped. “Where did you get that??”

“I just found it in the cabinets yesterday. Was gonna give it to you, but you were already asleep.” 

“Thanks! Now let’s see….” Since the girls were outside of the RV, she easily sprawled out the map, then narrowed her eyes to see where their specific location is. 

“Woah, this is an entire map of the country.” Jihan stared in awe.

“Alright, according to the pinpoints we’re currently here because the road that’s leading down is where the prison’s located. If we stay on this road, we’ll reach a very small town. I feel like since this is the rural area, we won’t run into too much trouble. I hope.” 

“Well, whatever happens, I know we’ll be able to deal with it.” Soojin encouraged the girls as they all nodded their heads in agreement. 

“So now it’s just going straight and setting course for a tiny village.” 

Monday chuckled at Zoa’s antics. “You sound like a medieval traveler.” 

“Thanks. Perks of playing games a lot.”

Everyone piled into the RV as Soojin ignited the engines, still being careful with the wound on her shoulder. They all failed to notice a car zooming by the gas station and sped far away from them. At the couch, Jaehee and Jiyoon were helping Zoa change Monday’s bandage and clean her injury before applying a new one. Soon enough, they were now on the road, with the only objective of staying on the same road. To kill the boredom, Soeun decided to turn up some music on the radio. Thankfully, it was the same revolutionary art that changed the whole world and shook the nation, winning music charts by storm: Gee by Girl’s Generation. The girls immediately turned this into massive karaoke sessions, screaming out to numerous hits from the legendary girl band. Monday was especially killing it with her unexpectedly heaven-like vocals while Jiyoon rapped along flawlessly. 

Soeun smiled a little while listening to them attempting high notes, chuckling whenever someone’s voice cracked. Despite it being loud, she didn’t mind it too much for some reason, perhaps because they hadn’t had this much fun in months. Soojin glanced over, feeling relieved Soeun was also having as much fun with the girls’ antics. After about two hours on the road, Zoa noticed the older girl had passed a certain sign before looking back at the map and smiled. They were getting closer to the town, thus, several more miles and they’re there. Soojin was humming to Run Devil Run to herself, before noticing something in the side view mirror, narrowing her eyes at it. She frowned, only now realizing that they’ve been the only one on the road till now. Quickly turning down the volume, Soojin informed everyone of her discovery.

“Hey guys, someone’s behind us.” 

Soeun immediately perked up from the passenger seat. “What?” She questioned sternly before looking at her side view as well. 

“Who??” Zoa rushed up to see for herself, arching an eyebrow upon seeing a black car tailgating them. “They’re driving awfully close.” 

“S-should we do something?” Jaehee nervously asked as Jihan tried to reason somewhat, despite also feeling scared. 

“Maybe they’re just a passerby?”

Until the car changed lanes and drove closer to where Soojin was on the wheel. The woman inside then pulled out a silenced gun and fired three rounds at her, though she luckily dodged in time. Everyone screamed in fear as Soojin nearly lost control of the RV but thankfully redirected straightforwardly, then abruptly turned to slam against the car as payback. Jiyoon angrily opened a window to cuss at whoever was operating that vehicle. “Hey!! What do you want from us, ?!” That only earned more shots fired as Monday hastily tackled her to the ground.

“Jiyoon, shut the hell up!” 

“We need a plan now or we’re dead!” Jihan had a good point, but the real question was, what were they going to do and how? Zoa frantically scanned the interior to figure that out, then her eyes locked on the emergency hatch leading towards the roof. There was also a wire rope sling, with an additional hook on the other end. 

“I have an idea! But someone has to go up there and use their powers to get rid of them.” 

Jihan quickly offered when no one else raised their hands. “I’ll do it.” 

“A-are you sure??” Jaehee was about to object, but she’d already made her decision. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Zoa quickly put the steel wire around her waist before securing it behind. Afterwards, Monday and Jiyoon helped boost her up to open the hatch. 

“I’ll come with you.”

She offered before sticking the hook in the ladder as Jihan began climbing up, soon reaching the roof and carefully got on it, nearly losing her balance but Zoa quickly grabbed the wire to help her. Jihan glanced down, noticing the driver was still butting heads with Soojin. The older girl tried to go faster than them, but they only caught up seconds later. Jihan looked in the distance, before having a solution then stretched her arm out, eyes instantly becoming bright blue. On the car’s lane, a large stone wall suddenly spawned from the ground, blocking their path and caused them to hit the brake right before crashing. This certainly slowed them down and allowed Soojin to get further away. However, the stranger easily switched and was now on their tail again, thus Jihan created another wall, then another, and another. Then a giant one was summoned to block both lanes, thinking that finally solved the problem. Or so she initially thought. The car easily plowed through Jihan’s barricade, shocking both her and Zoa since they didn’t expect it to be so strong.

But without another word, Jihan then picked up the vehicle itself. The woman inside was visibly shaken by this while levitating in midair, and next thing they knew, she crushed the car like a soda can. Jihan made sure to throw it far, far away, surprised by her own strength. She looked back at Zoa who was equally, if not more shocked after witnessing that. Honestly the coolest thing she’d ever seen. They both got back inside the RV and closed the hatch, then earned cheers from everyone, who’d also witnessed Jihan’s new strength.

“That was awesome, Jihannie!” Jiyoon ruffled her hair while Jaehee excitedly jumped up and down. 

“Thanks.” She giggled a little. 

“Now let’s celebrate this victory!”

Soojin announced while entering the small town at last, earning cheers from everyone. She drove around for a bit, eyeing certain buildings to see if there was anyone. But to all of their surprises, everything seemed pretty empty. It wasn’t usual for a rural town, though they didn’t mind too much and just continued. Shortly after, Jaehee spotted a mall and pointed towards it for the girls to see. Soojin parked right in front of it before getting out with everyone, astonished to see the mall was still in good shape for an abandoned looking town. Zoa figured people might have recently left this place for unknown reasons, thus, the girls had to be careful in case they happen to find out why sooner or later. Once inside, everyone gasped by how big and spacious it was, almost feeling a bit homey as well. There weren’t any working lights, thus Monday and Jaehee took the liberty to fix that, lighting the whole place up. Next, Zoa cued up some music, making them more enthusiastic as they went around “shopping” for everything from clothes to new phones. Eventually, the girls found the supermarket that was still very packed with food. They weren’t going to take all of it, but had to spoil themselves a little. Jiyoon, Monday, Jihan and Jaehee all rode around in shopping carts and raced against each other. It caused a huge mess inside, but the others didn’t mind and merely laughed. Zoa was off to the side figuring out what food to bring along with them in the RV and how much. 

At one point, Soojin and Soeun were busy picking out beverages to drink, occasionally bringing up what kind of flavor they liked. The two unexpectedly liked apple and banana flavor milk as well, which were usually the least favorite amongst their peers. Soeun was always self conscious about her choices, usually going with either strawberry or chocolate. Soojin felt bad and argued that people shouldn’t tell them what to and what not to like, but easier said than done with peer pressure.

“I know. I wish I was more confident around friends, but…I don’t know, maybe it’s because of my powers that I’m able to act more tough?” 

“Hey.” Soojin placed her hand on Soeun’s shoulder. “You are confident. With or without your powers. And I totally understand that feeling. Zoa and I had a hard time growing up going to school…she was called ‘Alien Brain’ while I was pushed around a lot.”

Soeun solemnly nodded. “…I’m sorry you went through that.”

“Thanks. But, it’s no big deal now. We’ve been better since meeting some friends, like you guys.” 

They both lightly laughed as the younger girl continued. “Anyways, here. I think you need it.”

Soojin gasped. “You found it! These are my favorite.” She held 

“They’re stacked all the way in the bottom over there.” 

“Yes! I’m gonna fill the fridge with these.” This made Soeun chuckle. 

“Hopefully they’ll fit. The girls might want some spots in the fridge, too.”

“Oh I’m sure there’s still a bunch of room left.” She then carried out three packs before setting them on the floor, then turned around to grab a basket. However, Soojin failed to see the kids racing towards her and zooming across, thus she got startled and stumbled backwards, tripping. Soojin’s eyes closed to prepare for the landing, only it never came when an arm wrapped around her waist. Glancing up, Soeun was looking back, clearly surprised by what’d just happened. She shyly cleared before helping Soojin up. 

“Sorry. That was an instinct.” 

“Don’t worry. Thanks for saving me, again.” 

“Yeah…n-no problem.” 

“Let’s go before we're flattened by the shopping carts?” They giggled at the joke. 

“Sure.”

As both of them were walking to Zoa, the kids continued playing their little games. Like how these usually end, disaster was, of course, waiting to happen. Monday and Jihan were pushing hard to go as fast as possible. Well, a little too fast. And worse, they were heading straight towards the wall. Thankfully, Jiyoon noticed on time. “Abandon ship! Abandon ship!!”

She immediately jumped off the shopping cart and landed on the ground, Monday falling back, while Jihan caught Jaehee in her arms. Shortly after, the girls witnessed the carts crash harshly, splattering eggs, milk, fruits juices, sauce, etc. all over the place. All four of them cheered, high fiving each other while Soojin only shook her head, thinking it was a waste of food. Soon enough, it was getting late, thus everyone grabbed whatever they wanted from the mall and helped each other get their full shopping carts down the stairs. Then, everything was unloaded into the RV, which surprisingly still had a lot of room. They stuffed all of their clothes into the bedroom and foods in the fridge, as well as cabinets. Luckily, before leaving, Soeun made sure to grab the important essentials: some random car parts hoping that Zoa could use them, and three gallons of gas in the small trunk. This time, she decided to drive and went around the small town to find a motel. The girls helped look as well, until Jihan spotted one. 

Soeun parked in the back and soon, everyone piled inside, but there were only three rooms available. Two of them had beds while one had a sofa and an enormous floor mattress. So what better way to settle this than through a round of games? Eventually, it was tied between Jiyoon, Soojin and Soeun who had to take the floor, Monday came third place and got to choose the sofa while Jaehee wanted one of the bedrooms by herself (despite her best friend’s protesting the teasing), thus leaving Zoa and Jihan for the other room together. At night, they all showered in their rooms, brushed their teeth and changed out of the old prison suits to some hoodies, sweaters, shorts and jeans. The girls then decided to have dinner right outside the motel, using the suits to create a whole bonfire, thanks to Jiyoon. They conversed and laughed while having barbeque before switching to s’mores for dessert, giggling whenever someone messed and the marshmallow was utterly burnt. Overall, everyone had a great time today, even in spite of the surprise attack on them. For the first time in a long while, they felt like kids again.