“Get it together, Kai, get it together…”, he muttered under his breath as he finally reached one of the slimes. He carefully navigated himself to the back of the creature, breathing out in relief at the sight of Yeosang and Yuqi, both of them merely awake.

“!” He pulled Yeosang by his shoulders, arms and his waist, frowning at no progress. The other was stuck to the surface like a magnet, not budging at all. He shook his hands around, loosening any tight muscles, before trying again, pulling constantly with his eyes shut in concentration.

“Kai!” Yeosang let out a wheeze, fanning himself and panting heavily as he managed to part ways with the slime. He covered his mouth as his nose picked up the awful stench. “Thank you.”, he whispered as he tried to process all that happened. He hissed as he heard a painful sound ringing within his ears, almost like a muffled siren.

“I have to help the others. Can you get Yuqi-noona out of here?” Kai bent over to tie his soaked shoelaces, glancing up at the other two. He noticed how Yuqi’s hand still held on to a thin metal rod. Upon seeing Yeosang nod firmly, he straightened his body and crept over to the other slime just next to the one he was hiding behind. He stayed close to the creature’s exterior, assuming that he was safe when out of sight.

While Kai repeated his strenuous actions on rescuing Jisu and Minho, pulling them with all his strength, Yeosang carried Yuqi all the way back to the others, with the latter guiding his movements as she yelled out whether any limbs were following them. Soon enough, Jisu and Minho stumbled and made their way towards the others too, their minds troubled and exhausted with all that happened, leaving Kai alone.

Kai exhaled heavily as he maintained a short distance between himself and the slime; he looked all around himself, finding no other body stuck to the surface of the slimes; he caught a quick glimpse of the wild machine that was slowly rotating on its row of wheels, turning around to proceed back to the left side, ready to destroy another row of buildings; he noticed how the barrier was still expanding, covering a wider region now.

“Ouch!”

At that acquainted voice, Kai whipped his head to his side, widening his eyes at the sight of Soobin rolling down the exterior of the only slime that he didn’t get to reach. He stealthily paced towards the other, being sure to stay out of sight in order to evade himself from being attacked. “Soobin-hyung, wake up!”

He hastily pulled Soobin’s arms, trying to get him away from the slime. Thankfully, Soobin was free from the sticky grasp quite quickly; Kai wondered whether it was because he arrived just in time, assuming that the adhesive grew stronger with time.

“Kai… You shouldn’t be h-here…”, Soobin whispered weakly as he breathed out heavily, an uneasy feeling hammering against his chest.

“You shouldn’t be here either. Let’s go back.”

“Wait! What about Changbin-hyung? H-He’s still in there!” Soobin let himself be supported by Kai’s body, feeling far too exhausted and drained to move.

“, okay, I’ll come back again but only after I get you back to safety.” Kai glanced up at the slime, frowning at how the opening began to stitch itself up, closing up and leaving no space for Changbin to escape through. He shook his head and nodded with an unyielding attitude; he gestured Soobin to stick close to him.

Counting to himself, he immediately pranced out of the safe zone behind the creatures, picking up his pace as he made his way across the wet ground – the water was finally soaked through and no more of an obstacle – with Soobin’s arm around his waist, the latter supporting himself along the route.

“The claws!”

Kai ignored Soobin’s comment, knowing that turning around would only waste more time and make him prone to tripping over. He relied on his ears, not at all concerned at how his sense of hearing seemed to have heightened, forcing his legs to move a certain way to stay out of the path of the dangerous limbs.

“Yeonjun-hyung! Get him back to the others!”, Kai screamed as he managed to get closer to the others. He noticed that Taehyun and Beomgyu were further back, and he was relieved to find everyone harmless and free of danger.

Yeonjun felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of Soobin – so weak, so lost, so frail, but he was safe and alive, and at the moment, it was all that mattered. He rushed forward, taking Soobin from Kai’s hold, embracing both of them tightly as he suppressed the urge to let his tears fall.

“Soobin, you’re safe, you’re here now. I’ll protect you this time, I promise.” Yeonjun muttered under his breath as he pressed a kiss to Soobin’s forehead, trying not to frown at the awful stench and appearance of his best friend.

The afor