“No, no, no! Give them back, you ing monster!”, Taehyun screamed as he turned around and found himself standing still and helpless within the water. He hesitated for a moment, watching the limbs and claws retreat back and become one with the creatures. Without a thought and without a plan, he ran towards the river, trying his best to fight the fear within him.

“Taehyun, no! Get back!”, Hoseok yelled and chased after the younger. He quickly grabbed the other and put him over his shoulder, rushing away from the three creatures that were suddenly as unmoving as a picture. He gestured towards the nurses to guide the rest of the team back to the nearest building. He struggled as his feet sloshed against the low level of water, especially with Taehyun fighting to be free from his hold.

Hoseok nodded firmly towards San and Wooyoung, both of them understanding the situation. He followed after them, moving quickly across the road and entering one of the buildings located just next to a grassy patch on the next row from the route of the moving machine. He raised an eyebrow at how the liquid being secreted was not disturbed by the flow of water. He waited within the lobby, still holding Taehyun tightly, counting the number of people making their way into the building.

The nurses immediately shut the door of the lobby as soon as they all were assembled in the empty entrance, the faintest hint of sunlight peeking through, while the tiled floor was all muddy and tainted with their wet footprints.

“Open the damn door!”, a feminine voice yelled.

They all looked behind the glass doors of the building, widening their eyes and immediately letting the familiar faces in – Yeonjun and Jungkook were back with blood and gloom over their faces, while Yuqi and Soyeon were thankfully safe and fine or so it seemed.

Yeonjun looked around the lobby, looking for a certain person, but a flash of panic passed over his eyes as the one he eagerly wished to hug at the moment was not in his view. He breathed out heavily, finally taking note of the missing members. “W-Where’s everyone?!?”, he asked with teary eyes as he resisted the urge to push away the nurses guarding the entrance, wanting to run away and rescue whomever he could find.

Yuqi stepped forward, her voice a little hoarse from yelling out instructions to the people to avoid entering the tall, off-white building a few blocks behind them. “We heard screams, w-we heard the water… Please tell me they’re all just taking shelter… Please tell me they’re not within those creatures…”

There was a minute of silence, the only audible sounds being that of the machine’s low grunts and the chorused screams of the ones in the distant buildings on the next row.

“Say something, please! W-We have to get them back! We have to rescue them! Kai, let’s go and get them back, yeah? Jungeun-noona, you can come too! Your powers will rescue our friends!” Yeonjun rambled on, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, panting heavily. He walked towards one of the flats; he didn’t know how but he kicked down the flimsy door from the bottom, the wet and weakened wood breaking off instantly. He rushed inside and jumped over the furniture.

Seungmin was reluctant to leave Jisung and Felix’s side, both of them being far too affected by the scenario. “Yeonjun-hyung, p-please wait!” Seungmin rushed after the older, a frown on his face as he saw the way Yeonjun looked out the window with an aura of utter fear. “We need to talk things out, and please talk to Taehyun. He seems…”

At the mention of that name, Yeonjun his heels and ran back to the lobby, engulfing Taehyun into a tight hug. “Tae, it’s fine. We’ll get Soobin, Beomgyu and everyone else out of there.”, he whispered as he ignored the dubious and pitiful looks of the others.

“Yeonjun, I apologise but we’re not ready. We can’t just get them out of there even though we want to. We can’t control our powers yet, which is why Kai accidentally set the police officer- Umm, n-never mind. We need to think of a plan and go over a few things. For instance, the electricity’s still out but the elevators are still working. Does that not worry any of you? I think we should all avoid the elevators just in case we get trapped within.”, Jungeun explained as she glanced at the small tattoo on her skin, before shifting her gaze towards Kai, who seemed just as uneasy as everyone else.

“Okay, l-let’s avoid the elevators, you’re right. Also, we need to stay calm even though it’s difficult. We can’t just act recklessly. Yeonjun, Taehyun, please don’t panic. We’ll get them out of there, but firstly, we need to keep moving to the next building. I saw the barrier expand by quite a bit, so we need to get going.”, Jungkook said as he instinctively grabbed hold of Yeonjun and Taehyun’s hands. He gestured the nurses to give way, before forcefully walking out, his grip never faltering.

The others followed soon after, keeping their eyes and ears open and alert, constantly glancing at the gigantic machine that crept from the left-hand side of the barrier to the right, now so close to the edge.

“! They’re coming!”, Soyeon screamed as she looked over her shoulder. She saw how the three creatures were gradually moving out of the river, crawling forward with their gooey bodies. “Run!”, she screamed yet again, pulling Haseul along with her, who began to tremor in fear at the large shadows that crept over the land.

There was definitely quite a large distance between the monsters and the people, but they could only imagine what the claws and limbs could do. They suppressed the need to cry out of fatigue and apprehension, racing towards the barrier. They ignored the curious and seemingly fine faces of the people outside the barrier, safe and full of life and protection. Meanwhile, what seemed like over a hundred fleeing citizens, rushed out of their buildings and similarly made their way to the edge of the barrier.

“There’s no building to get into in this area!” Yeji looked around frantically, searching for a place of shelter, but all that she saw were roads and small stores and boutiques that were locked down and shut.

“Everyone, please stay by the barrier and as soon as it expands, keep moving forward! Ignore the faces of the people outside! They’ll run far away as the barrier expands too! Don’t stop running!” Jungkook yelled as he finally let go of Yeonjun and Taehyun, raising his arms to make gestures towards the large crowd of people all huddled together.

Yeonjun crouched down and washed away the blood on his arms, shaking at the horrifying sight. He let out a forced sigh, gulping down heavily, before repeating the series of actions.

“What did you see in the building by the gym?” Yuqi asked as she bent over, wanting to comfort the other somehow. “I’m assuming there were a few bodies too… The off-white building had splattered blood everywhere, but thankfully, none of the people were aware of that, or else they would be far too frightened to move.”

Yeonjun didn’t