“What’s happening? Why are those people putting that woman outside? W-What’s wrong with that woman in the first place? She looks…”, Soobin trailed off as he squinted his eyes to try and grasp the scene in front of him. He tried to comprehend the situation despite the dark night making it difficult for him to see, his torch being his only support.

“She looks in pain…”

“Whoa, Soobin-hyung, move back!” Kai called out desperately as he noticed the threatening presence of the slime just beside the parking lot, in the middle of the road. He gestured the others to lie on the ground and hide behind the rows of vehicles.

“I sure hope that thing can’t hear us…”, Soobin whispered as he intertwined his fingers with Kai’s, feeling responsible for the younger’s protection. He whipped his head around, making sure the others were covered and safe, and he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Beomgyu and Soyeon leaning against a blue car.

He wondered where those two were all this time, but all that mattered at that moment was their welfare.

“! What the hell?!?”

Kai tried not to scream as he removed his hand from Soobin’s grip and covered his mouth, his voice muffled by his hands. He widened his eyes and watched with horror at the catastrophic sight of the woman on the road being held tightly by one of the claws of the slime. He felt his lips quiver as he saw the woman’s unnatural body drop to the ground in a gory disarray.

Soobin quickly pinched his nose, resisting the urge to throw up at the sight. He turned around and looked at the ones behind him with an aggrieved expression; he shook his head, letting them know that the situation wasn’t bright at all.

Seungmin, who was just behind Soobin and Kai, channelled in: “Aren’t we supposed to do something? That woman just-”

He had no time to complete his suggestion.

They watched carefully, regretfully, painfully, the fear in their hearts loud as a sky of fireworks; with a thin beam of light from Soobin’s torch, they gasped at how the cafe just across the road shattered instantly like a fragile piece of glass, the walls crumbling down and leaving a pile of rubble.

“Oh my God, w-what is happening? How did that slime get here so fast in the first place? Are we just going to sit around l-like this?” It was Haseul’s voice now, quiet and frightened.

She tried to inch closer towards the road, all the while sticking her back against the many cars in the parking lot. However, she froze in place, stumbling and falling to the ground from her crouching position – a muted cry escaped her lips as she saw the ominous claw move away from the cafe and hover over the empty road.

“Oh my God, no, no! T-That’s a piece of cloth hanging from the claw! It’s attacking more people! We have to stop it! We have to kill it!” Kai rose to his feet, trying not to let his light-headedness get to him.

“Kai, wait, what are you doing?”

The latter ignored Soobin’s question; he supported his body with his arm leaning against a black car, his posture unsteady and wobbly. He in a deep breath and shut his eyes, forcing the image of the dark room in his mind, a low flame sitting at the centre. He flinched as he heard a chorus of voices from the cafe – voices he recognised.

He pictured a ball of fire within his shaking hands, knowing that if he aimed correctly despite the nightfall, he could burn and melt down the slime. He breathed out, furrowing his brows, feeling beads of sweat roll down his forehead. He opened his eyes way too quickly, hissing at the sudden dizziness that took over him, black spots filling his vision for a few seconds. He wished he could laugh at how he managed to notice the eye floaters even within the night, but the headache was far too powerful for him to even stand straight.

He toppled and fell to the ground, sitting on his bum. He stared at his hands with inert eyes, frowning at how there was only a tiny flaming sphere that diminished in an instant. “I can’t… I don’t have… I don’t have any strength left in me, hyung…”, he muttered under his breath as he looked up at Soobin.

The latter edged closer to Kai, but he didn’t know what to say to comfort the younger. Soobin knew that they were all in trouble.

“I think I got this!” Jungeun moved forward, lightly patting Haseul’s back as she moved past, her body hunched over to hide behind the cars, trying to stay out of the creature’s view. She kneeled by Kai’s side, flashing a soft smile.

She immediately shut her eyelids, manipulating the weak plant sitting on the table in the dark room of her mind. She grimaced at the way the plant moped and wilted, its leaves pale and flaccid. Without a thought, she visualised an attack she hadn’t tried before – thorns and needle-like pieces of wood. In a way, they were like wooden claws.

She wanted to give the slime a taste of its own medicine.

“Jungeun-noona!” Soobin and Kai watched in awe as the aforementioned pushed her hands out, strong and rigid.

They flinched as they saw the slime bend and wobble randomly, its body being pierced by wooden cones and sharp thorns.

Jungeun still had her concentration intact; she gently moved her fingers, operating the pointed pieces of wood to move further into the slime. Like an artist redrawing their sketch, she gradually made the wooden thorns expand and cover the entirety of the creature’s gooey body until it exploded.

“Ew!”

Soobin pulled Kai and Jungeun back, pushing them behind him. He put his arms over his head, protecting himself from the viscous substance that flew across the area, shrouding the vehicles and the people promptly. He sulked in disgust, surprised at how he was still not used to the terrible stench. He tried to lift his head slightly, catching a glimpse of a crowd of people rushing out of the cafes and restaurants, their faces covered with sludge but their distress was strong.

While the ones in the parking lot continued to stay on the ground, their arms and bags covering their bodies, Jisung crawled towards the edge of the road. He breathed out in relief and got back on his feet. “It’s gone… … Ugh, this is ing disgusting…”

Kai waited for a few seconds, trying to subside the throbbing pain in his head. He slowly helped himself stand up, nodding towards Soobin and Jungeun to let go of him, feeling confident in his regained strength.

“Shouldn’t we go and check the cafe? The others are still in there! Damn it, my mom’s probably in there along with Beomgyu-hyung’s mom and Yeonjun-hyung’s father!”

“Oh my God, you’re right. Let’s go.” Jisung was the first to agree with Kai. He took just one step out of the parking lot and onto the road that was flooded with goo, his face contorting in revulsion. He looked down, gagging at the wet feeling under his sneakers.

“Get on your ing knees!”

They all raised their heads at the aggressive voice.

Soobin quickly waved around his flashlight, his hand fumbling with the device, trying to keep his hand steady – he had a bad feeling about this.

He let out an audible gasp at the sight of two police officers pushing Taehyun, Yeosang and Jisu out of the destructed cafe, with guns ushering them forward.

“On your knees!”, one of the police officers yelled, her fingers just an inch away from pulling the trigger. She scoffed as the trio eventually dropped to their knees, their hands on their heads.

“Excuse me, but what are you doing to them?!? How dare you raise a gun towards them?!? What are you doing?!?”, another woman’s voice called out. It was Mrs. Huening, with Mrs. Choi just by her side; they both stepped out of the group of people, panting heavily.

“M-Mom…”, Kai trailed off. He noticed that Yeonjun’s father stayed within the crowd, quiet as ever.

“H-Hey, what the hell is going on?!? Did you not hear her?!? Put that gun down!” Soobin didn’t know he had the courage in him to yell out such loud commands to a pair of officers with weapons. He gulped down a noticeable lump in his throat, trying to swallow the fear. He tried to stop his hands from shaking, the torch’s white beam swaying from side to side.

“You want to know what’s going on?!? Oh, I’ll show you what’s going on! Bring out the body!” The female officer raised her voice, gesturing the people by the cafe to move aside.

Soobin his dry lips, blinking repeatedly to fight the fear. Everything felt so wrong; he didn’t like the way the night was illuminated by only a few torches, his friends kneeling down on the wet ground with guns pointed at them, and worst of all, he couldn’t believe who he saw stepping out of the cafe.

Hoseok slowly walked forward, his eyes lacking the typical light that would make his eyes glimmer with hope, his movements lethargic and disheartened, his bloodied hands carrying a heavy and lifeless body. He stopped near Taehyun, gently laying down the body onto the ground.

Another man brought the poor woman’s body closer too, the motionless corpse hardly intact. He gently rested the body against the trunk of a tree. At that point, everyone knew that the lady couldn’t be buried or carried any further, her bones and flesh far too visible.

Just a second after, Yeonjun ran out of the cafe, breaking free from Wooyoung’s hold; he let out a sob as he landed on his knees with an exasperated and dispirited look on his face. “J-Jungkook-hyung, damn it!”

Soobin and Kai glanced at each other briefly, their eyes juddering and their lips quivering constantly. With no second to waste, they jogged ahead and stopped just a metre away from the dead body. They crouched down, hesitant on wanting to reach out, the image itself being far too devastating and appalling for them to tolerate.

“… The claws…”

“Get back! Get up and move away! I want no one on the ground except for those three!” The male officer spoke up this time, aiming his gun towards the sky and pulling the trigger, letting a single bullet shoot upwards, the shell casing dropping to the ground.

If anyone wanted to evaluate the strength of the increasingly opaque barrier, that bullet proved it.

Soobin and Kai jumped back, covering their ears at the loud gunshot. They frantically stepped back until they were back in the parking lot.

“Yeonjun-hyung, Hoseok-hyung… P-Please…” Soobin called out softly, his hands clasped together as he looked at them d