The path we were on was a dirt road with some trees on the sides, making enough shadows for us to jump. It may sound like it’s a piece of cake, but when you’re on an empty stomach…. It seems kinda harder to be skipping around like rabbits. Then, my body couldn’t take it any longer… my stomach growled like a fierce dragon…. and Kai heard it. He stopped walking and turned to me, touching his stomach with one hand and pointing at me with the other.

MJ:… sorry… I’m just a little hungry, that’s all… I haven’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch…

My stomach growled again, and I just had to facepalm myself to feel less embarrassed. Kai chuckled and took me by the wrist. He then pulled me off the trail and into an area with no trail whatsoever. Unlike the path we were taking, this area had even less shadows, and they were separated by a long distance… something I couldn’t be able to do.

MJ: Where are you taking me? And where does this place lead to? It looks really difficult to cross over it. Plus, we can’t leave the original path, we might get lost!

Kai signaled me to stay where I was, and he started to jump like a kangaroo from shadow to shadow. This guy must have been an athlete or something, because he did every physical activity like a pro. As I saw him get far away from me, I noticed he was going directly to a small area of bushes and small plants.

Once he got to them he waved back at me, and bent down to work on the bushes. I don’t know what he was doing, but apparently he encountered a problem. I was caught off guard when he took off his shirt and exposed his back to me…Even though I’m in a life-or-death game, and I’m trying to be like a mother to Kai…I’m still a woman, and I just HAD to react to his actions…..

MOTHER OF GOD! That guy was fiiine! Not even LuHan has that perfectly shaped and tanned back that makes you want to say UNF!...Okay, back to normal now. He finished what he was doing and when he got back up…. I almost had a nose bleed… Perfectly molded abs! His collarbone looked like it was about to break his skin! Low-cut jeans revealed the beginning of an “entrance”…GOD, SAVE ME FROM MY SINNING MIND!! I secretly slapped myself to maintain my cool. Kai wrapped his shirt around something, making a little package, with the two long sleeves tide together.

He smiled at me as he began to come towards me. But something went wrong… the Sun suddenly began to shift faster, and Kai was running out of shadows. He noticed and fastened his pace, but he was still some meters away, and we still had to get back to the original path and see where we could take shelter or else… No, not that again!

MJ: KAI!!! HURRY!!

I began to panic, since the shadow I was standing in was becoming narrower by the second. Kai had to jump even harder and longer this time, but he never let go of the package. He was panting hard when he finally came into my shadow, and without stopping, he took my hand and pulled me, as we both began to run back to the original path. Once there, we continued jumping on shadows, as they still got even smaller, until… There were no shadows left and Kai had just stepped on sunlit ground… He gasped…I gasped… and without notice arrows came flying towards us… Kai pushed me out of the way as he did the same thing, making the armory fly by and end up in the ground some meters away. Once again fear took the better of me and I couldn’t think for myself, leaving Kai to do the escape plan all by himself. Kai threw the package to the side and quickly ran back to me, placing himself in front of me, his back towards me. I could feel his senses were all activated and aware of the surroundings, just like a hunter trying to catch his pray. I finally had the courage to move on my own and decided to look in every direction to see if I could find where the Exotics were hiding. I turned around and saw two figures taking aim at us. I screamed and Kai turned around to face them as well. He pushed me down and got on top of me as the shots flew over us. JongIn quickly got up, pulled me onto my feet and began to run I don’t know where. The Exotics began to multiply and kept firing at us; we just dodged, until one of the arrows hit Kai on the back part of his left shoulder…The boy fell on his knees, as my feet got tangled with eachother and fell right beside him. Upon seeing the blood dripping, I became frantic… He was hurt…Now we would die… But something far more powerful than fear came upon me….

…Anger…

Coherent thoughts just started to pour into my mind…scientific facts all made sense now…My body forgot about hunger and fatigue… my senses all widened up… And I was ready to do something stupid…

I glanced at Kai and saw he was badly injured; the arrow was still sticking into his skin. He couldn’t do much for me; it was my turn to take charge. I looked back at the surroundings, and saw some meters away a Safe Point: a small cave in between high grass.

But to get there I had to pass by the Exotics… It was now or never… I pulled Kai up by his un-wounded arm and firmly held his right hand. He looked at me with a confused faced, but then nodded when he understood; he was being so strong. With my serious face I nodded in response, and when we heard the bows being released we sprang into action and ran towards one of the openings in the circle that the Exotics had formed around us. Almost at the end of the race, Kai fell again, and I knew he couldn’t go on in this state. Finally, the moment came to go crazy… I kneeled in front of Kai with my back towards him and started to push him unto me, so I could give him a back-ride. He hesitated at first but finally got on by back and I got up with some difficulty. Upon being on my feet, with some 120 pounds extra on me, I began to run towards one of the Exotics. It took me some time to get to him due to Kai’s weight, but I arrived; thank God we didn’t get hit by any more arrows. Once in front of the Exotic I…I… I LOST MY MIND!

I laid Kai on the ground and launched myself over the hooded figure. Maybe he wasn’t expecting it and wasn’t prepared, or I was just out of control… I kicked his hand, and the bow went flying to the ground. As he held his wounded hand with the other one, I head- him right in the stomach and pinned him into a tree. I took the opportunity to kick him in his “manhood” and choke him with my hands; the man grabbed my hands with his, trying to set himself free. Kai was , and some arrows were falling into my feet… I had to end this soon…. I got loose from his grip, bent down, picked an arrow, and without thinking it over, stabbed it into the Exotics left ribs. He immediately fell to the ground while grunting loudly….

I’m used to hurting bad-doers around school or the neighborhood… But I had never gone to the extent of stabbing someone, and hoping for him or her to die. I became traumatized, watching the scene before me. The man was agonizing, and if his friends didn’t come to help him soon he would die… Kai saw my state of trance and made a move, since we were still being attacked. He grabbed the arrow that was inserted in his shoulder, and yanked it out, giving a loud and horrible scram of pain. He held himself for a few seconds before getting up and going to grab the victim’s bow. The Exotics, upon seeing what had happened to one of their comrades, got out of their places and ran towards us, ready for a close-range attack. Kai came back to me and shook my shoulders, trying to get me on track again. I looked at him with a poker face, still trying to adjust my feelings to what just happened. Kai handed me the bow as I looked at his blood-covered shoulder; I knew what had to be done. I took another arrow from the floor and aimed it at the group of 7 men that were charging toward us. They were still a few meters away…getting closer… I was running out of time, so I just shoot… Mercy was on my side today… The arrow hit one of the men in front of the mob and he fell. Kai gave me another arrow, and I shoot again… this time I failed. They were getting closer and I had to be sure of what I did. JongIn gave me another arrow, but this time he took my hand. He squeezed it lightly while giving me a weak smile and a nod. I know he was trying to give me strength and courage, and it sure did. I firmly nodded back and put all my concentration on the bow and arrow. I aimed, I prayed, I fired… It hit another one right in the stomach. He fell down and rolled, knocking down two of his friends. There were 3 left. Obviating a victory dance, I took another arrow from Kai and aimed, but this time, the Exotics took out their bows again and were about to fire when, some knives flew from behind me and hit each of the remaining men upfront. Finally, they had all fallen. They were bleeding, , and grunting, while rolling and trying to get back on their feet. Before they could do anything else, I ran towards them and took away their arrows, breaking them all in half and throwing them at their faces. I became enraged. Even though we were out of danger now, I wanted to keep fighting; I wanted to hurt them more, just like they hurt me… I went berserk.

I picked one guy by the collar and started slapping him with all my might from one side to the other. The man’s hood fell back and revealed a beaten up face that even behind the bruises was beautiful… Small face, with big expressive eyes…just like LuHan…

But I didn’t care…I just wanted to let them feel the pain…I kept slapping him until his nose and lips began to bleed… I started to cry at the image, but kept on slapping him. The other Exotics lying on the ground just watched; their faces still covered.

MJ: WHERE’S LUHAN YOU !?!? You want to kill me?! That’s not going to happen!! You get in my way, I WILL TEAR YOU APART! IM SICK of you people attacking us!! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR MOTHER ERS!! I CURSE YOU ALL!!... I CUR—

Someone had stopped my hand from slapping the unknown man once again. I looked behind to find Kai with a heavy grip on my right wrist; his face was dirty and had a terrorized expression. I looked at what I was doing... my hands where stained with blood. All my emotions disappeared; I understood that to win this game, you couldn’t have feelings, or else they’d get on the way. I instantly let go of the man and began to back away. Even though I’m sinning, I would have done it again if I could… I left all the men un-armed and walked back to my first victim, Kai walking right behind me… The unknown man was lying on the dirt, with his back leaned on the tree. His hands were touching his rib-side, where I had stabbed him. His hood was still on. I approached him, got on my knees and leaned my face closer to his.

MJ:  (I spoke with a harsh, yet calm tone) You…. I know you were the one that launched the knives… Why?... You’re one of them, they’re your friends. Why did you help us?

The man didn’t answer. He just stayed there, still breathing heavily. I saw how his blood was flowing from his body. His robe was drenched, and the grass around him had already attained such a horrible color.

MJ: If you don’t get your wound treated, you’re going to die soon…

The man chuckled lightly; then gave a loud, hurtful grunt and, without notice, fainted and fell sideways to the ground. I just stared at him, and so did Kai. Whoever he was, he had just saved us from another injury; the least I could do is clean his wound. But after that he has to go! I looked at Kai’s shoulder and saw it was starting to get ugly… God, give me wisdom to take care of him! I grabbed the Exotic’s arrow and jerked it out of him, making his body involuntarily wince at the pain. I was about to put the man on my back when Kai stopped me and started doing it himself.

MJ: Kai!! You have an injured shoulder!! You can’t carry him. I’ll do it; let me…

I pushed him aside and finally put the unknown man on my back. He weighted a little more than Kai. I felt his slow respiration on my neck, and his blood soon stained my navy blue blazer and gray short skirt.

As I was accommodating him on me, Kai walked away. When I noticed where he was heading, it was towards the package he had made with his shirt earlier. He grabbed it, and while walking back to me, he smiled at himself. I hadn’t even had the time to see what he had recollected.

MJ: Let’s go Kai. We need to get you two fixed up… Plus the sun is right on top of us, so there aren’t any shadows out and these weirdoes may appear at any minute again.

Kai nodded and we began to walk towards the cave. Before leaving the area we took one last glance at the fallen Exotics; they were still there, trying to save themselves. I didn’t feel any pity: if they bled to death, fine by me. We walked about 15 meters before encountering our new refuge. Now, to take care of the boys…