Yeonjun was the first to break out of his trance, the sight of the slimes startling him immensely. He looked all around him, only to see the rest of the team engulfed in a cloud of agony and discomfort; he saw the rough bruises and cuts on their bodies from the violent claws, and he heard the distant screams of the civilians further away.

Nothing seemed right.

“, , , this is not happening, this can’t be happening!”

He winched at the stinging pain in his waist as he moved around. He didn’t bother looking down, knowing that the blood must have dried up by now, but he was rather thankful that the wound wasn’t too deep.

Soobin noticed the way the older was stumbling around, so he cleared his throat and suggested, “We can’t fight like this! We need to go back!” He rushed to Yeonjun’s aid, glancing at Taehyun to get the squad retreating.

Taehyun tore his gaze away from the river, finding it hard to believe that their fate was truly this terrible. He then let his eyes trail over to the machine, which was now dragging its heavy wheels across the park, demolishing every wooden bench and tree in its path.

“Stop standing there, you idiot!”

He flinched at that loud voice, before turning around to see the team already dragging their tired feet across the road. Gathering himself, he began running to reunite with the others, not a single word leaving his lips as he processed the awful turn of events.

“Oh my God!”, a woman called out in a quivering voice.

They were all assembled in a newly enclosed shop at the bottom of an apartment building just on the side of the road. Beomgyu and Kai’s mothers rushed forward with worried faces. At the same time, the nurses stepped closer and began treating and cleaning out the horrifying wounds.

“D-Damn it, this is bad… Oh, I can’t look at you all, I can’t…”, Jisung muttered to himself, a hand covering his mouth as he turned away from the injured party.

Beomgyu frowned at the other’s behaviour, but he knew that they weren’t exactly the prettiest bunch of individuals at that moment. He looked around him, noticing a few missing people. He inquired in a soft voice, trying to hold in a scream as he felt his wounds being treated with a cold liquid. “Where are the others?”

“Umm, they’re burying as many bodies as they can, at least the ones that seem to be…”

“Putrid.”

“Yes, putrid.” Yeji nodded towards Soyeon and returned her gaze towards the wounded group. “When a part of the mall fell apart, some of us got hurt as we tried to move away. The nurses thankfully helped us out, so they’re resting in some of the rooms. The others are gathering supplies and washing themselves up.”

Yeonjun let out a groan, feeling unsettled by the pressure on his abdomen as one of the nurses wrapped a piece of gauze around his waist, but he was more distressed by the whole ordeal itself, wondering when they’d be free. He knew that there was end to this – there had to be an end – and he only wished to run towards that finishing line.

Moments later, the team was all patched up with bandages in the affected areas. They slowly rose to their feet and split up; while Kai and Beomgyu returned to their mothers, Yeonjun merely glanced at his father and rushed towards Hoseok, and Soobin followed a nurse into one of the flats upstairs to check for more infected people.

Meanwhile, Taehyun sat on the muddy floor of the store, leaning against a counter at the corner. He had a single coin in his hand, which he stole from the cashier machine, and he tossed it repeatedly. The plangent sound of the piece of metal flying off the tip of his thumb and landing on the ground was the only thing keeping him sane. He slowly lifted his head and stared at the blue sky outside.

It was far too beautiful.

Through the glass panels of the furniture store, he saw the bizarre and undefeatable machine in the park; however, despite the contraption reaching the border of the park and arriving at the surface of the barrier, it did not rotate in its usual pattern and head back to the right-hand side. Instead, it began heading towards the river, its wheels carrying the structure along the circumference of the capsule-like barrier.

Taehyun furrowed his brows in confusion, wondering why the machine would change its course at a time like this; he expected it to keep destroying everything on its path. He realised that the river was, indeed, a vital location. At that moment, he hoped that he and the others would find a clue by the body of water, one that would answer their questions and eradicate this madness.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Beomgyu and Kai sitting on a couch with their mothers, pitiful smiles on their faces. He wished he could take those two, along with the others, and run away from this mess.

“Hey, are you okay?” A familiar voice spoke, and he looked to his side. “Uh, we need to talk.”

“Yeosang-hyung, I know what you’re going to say. I just… I’m starting to lose hope. What if we really can’t put an end to thi