“Yah!” I swung my sword viciously at the Anon I was currently in combat with. He was an exceptional fighter, and the small duel had been going on for too long. “Ugh!” I grunted, spinning and kicking him in the chest. He flew to the ground and my sword immediately took care of him.

I had exited the theater with Tao, Lay, Xiu Min, and Baekhyun. At first the battle seemed pretty fair with just a few Anons, but reinforcements came and we were easily outnumbered. Every time I took out one of the aliens, another would take his place. It was like a never-ending flood.

The new Anon I was fighting wore an annoying smirk and seemed to be entertained by the fact that I was a girl. I glared at him as our swords clashed. Suddenly his face changed to a look of terror.

“Over here!” he shouted as he fought me with wide eyes. “It’s-,”

Unfortunately for him he’d let his guard down, giving me the opportunity to stab him in the heart; that is, if Anons even had hearts. However, due to his outcry, multiple Anon heads turned toward me. Some looked puzzled, some scared, and some anxious.

“Is it really her?” one of them asked, but was taken out by Lay’s blade before he received an answer.

An Anon charged me. He must have been one of their best fighters, because he posed a challenge for me. My mind raced through all the moves I’d learned before picking the best one for the situation. I pretended to show signs of fatigue, sending a smile across my opponent’s ugly face. With each deflection I appeared to grow weaker. I could tell he was getting comfortable; the one thing Tao had warning me not to do. Without hesitation I jumped and spun, working around his blade and sending mine through his stomach. The other Anons stared in fear, enabling my friends to knock out quite a few during that time.

“It’s the girl!” one of them shouted. “The others don’t matter. Just get her!”

What the heck is going on?! My mind raced as a crowd of Anons rushed at me. My friends jumped in front of them to fight. Though they were probably just as confused as I was about why they wanted me, they didn’t hesitate in defending me. Though I was the target, I didn’t let that stop me. I joined their fight with new energy. It was like I could move quicker now. I read their body language and automatically knew what they were going to do.

We were doing exceptionally well, but it was still not enough. Anons were continuing to close in on us. It was only a matter of time before we’d be too overrun to take them.

“Tao, take Phoebe!” Lay shouted over the chaos.

“Come on,” Tao grabbed my arm and began pulling me. We slowly fought our way through the Anons as we continued toward the back of the theater building. Our progress was slow, but at least we were getting somewhere.

“Agh!” A cry came from somewhere behind us, followed by a flash of light.

“Baekhyun,” I whispered under my breath, but I could tell by the tug in my heart that he was already gone.

“Keep going!” Tao encouraged me as he pulled a wushu move, taking out three Anons at once.

I forged ahead with him, fighting my hardest. We finally broke past the majority of Anons and began running. A large number of them chased after us. We passed the other side of the building and I looked down the alley to see the same situation that we had. I somehow found Luhan in the mess. A fire burned behind his eyes as a fought ruthlessly. Our eyes made quick contact and a million feelings passed between us in that moment.

“Keep running!” Tao demanded.

He stopped and swiped at an Anon that was hot on our heels. The enemy fell to the ground lifelessly. Tao quickly caught up with me. In fact, it was a little too quick. It was then that I realized he was effecting the time. He scooped me up in his arms and continued to sprint away from the fighting. We to the main road, but didn’t stay there for long. He took multiple turns and back alleys to ensure the journey to find us would be a difficult one.

Finally he slipped me into an old factory building through a broken window and followed in behind. I felt time resume to its normality and he took me by the hand.

“This is the safest place we have for now,” he said, pulling me through the factory and up a staircase. “But it’s only a matter of time before they find us.”

It was obvious that he knew the building well since he walked through very sure of himself. When we got upstairs he pulled me into an employee closet and hurried to the back wall.

“Have you been here before?” I asked as he searched for something along the floor boards.

“My father worked here. When I was little I’d come here after school and hang out. I got to know every square inch of this place,” he explained. Suddenly something clicked and a portion of the wall popped inwards. “Even this,” he smirked, pulling me into the hidden room.

“Why didn’t we use this earlier?” I asked, staring up at the glass ceiling. It had a ridge in the middle, then slanted down on either side.

“There aren’t enough exit routes,” he pointed out as he shoved a cabinet in front of the hidden door. “However, it is great for hiding.”

“Hiding,” I scoffed, sitting against the wall. “How can we just hide when our friends’ lives are in danger?”

“Anonymous doesn’t want them. They’re after you,” Tao reminded me, taking a seat next to me and trying to catch his breath. “By the way, why are they after you?”

“I don’t know!” I threw my hands in the air. “But it’s seriously annoying! Like, I know some guys are desperate these days, but is a war really necessary for just one girl? Especially one that doesn’t even know who she is!”

“There has to be something,” he shook his head. “You don’t remember anything about your past?”

“No,” I shook my head and sighed. “This is hurting my head.”

“Well at least we know what they want now,” Tao pointed out. “And don’t worry; I talked to Kris about having this safety spot ahead of time in case of a retreat or whatever might happen. He knows that if we’re anywhere, we’re be here.”

“Aigoo, I hate just waiting here like this,” I complained, standing up and wandering through the room. My eyes had adjusted by now with help from the moonlight streaming in through the glass ceiling.

“It’s the best thing we can do at this point,” Tao sighed. “Just-,”

“Wait,” I froze as a scene played out in my mind like a movie in front of my eyes.

“What?” Tao whispered.

“I can see them,” I put a hand on his arm. “They’re on their way over here now.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked in confusion.

“I know they are, I can see it happening right now,” I said, still in my vision. “Kris, Lay, Chanyeol, Xiu Min, Chen and… oh thank goodness, there’s Luhan! But they’re on their way too.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you’re right then we have to get out of here now. There’s no way out besides the way we came in. We’ll have to be-,”

Suddenly glass went flying as something crashed into the room from overheads, followed by two others. When I lifted my eyes, three Anons stood before us.

“Get out of here!” Tao demanded.

“But Tao-,”

“I can take them! Now go!”

I began to pull out my sword, but Tao shoved it back and shoved me toward the door. “GO!”

I pushed the cabinet out of the way and pulled open the door which thankfully had a handle on the inside. I looked back at Tao who was now facing the Anons (like this). My hand reached for my sword, but stopped at the remembrance of Tao’s words. Finally I obeyed Tao’s command and hurried away from the room feeling awful.