Hoya stopped at his tracks, catching his breath. His legs cried in pain. He looked up at the mixture of blue. Together the big leaves and the thick branches somewhat made a huge blanket; leaving small holes in between as the sun rays creeped through towards the soft, fertile soil. How he wished he could see the actual colours of his surroundings.

            He looked at his watch. 6pm. He couldn’t believe he had been running for the whole afternoon. Well, he had to. Wherever he ran, there was bound to be another participant following him or even bumping into him. When he met any of them, he fought back. But he never killed. That was one thing Hoya tried to avoid. Killing a person.

            Hoya looked around to make sure he was alone before heading to a thick trunk that laid on the ground. It had  moss and fungus on it but the inside was quite the opposite. It must have been there for decades. He went into the deepest end of the trunk then sitting down comfortably. Using his earth bending, he pulled a big rock to cover the entrance of the trunk. Then, he took his bag off his back and ped it.

            ‘Ahh! Seriously?!’ he whispered at the same time shouting to himself.

            There was probably only three things in the backpack. A jacket, a flashlight and a water bottle. The jacket wasn’t even thick enough to keep him warm, the flashlight was pretty darn small and the water bottle; empty. Great.

            ‘Yeah Baekhyun, so much for this backpack being of great help,’ he mentally cursed to his trainer.

            As he put his things back into his bag, he startled. A sharp snap of a twig could be heard. Hoya straightened his back as he listened to the silence afterwards. Then, there was more snapping. He felt his heart beat faster. He kept his breathing low. He lifted placed his hand on the ground so he could see a little better. He concentrated hard, but couldn’t figure out the intruder.

            Then, he heard thuds. Thuds not like thunder, but like heavy footsteps. Then from the right, a black boot appeared. It landed on the ground, crushing the dried leaves and twigs which made that familiar snapping sound. The other boot appeared, but it landed slower than the other. Hoya’s forehead wrinkled in frustration. He couldn’t seem to see the figure’s face. The two boots turned, the front of the boots facing Hoya’s direction. Both came to a halt.

            Total silence.

            Hoya started to panic. His breath could be heard. He covered his mouth with the other hand. His body was shaking with fear. He tightened his muscles, trying to keep still.

            Then, a long blue flash appeared beside the boots. He only could see blue, but he knew it was white. It was somehow shaped like a spear but without the pointed triangle end. That part was solid white and the glow effect made it amazing to look at. Around it was many flickering lights that went off every few seconds. It was like static electricity, but in a more dangerous form. A lightning form. He had never seen such a power.

            Another moment of silence went by. Hoya didn’t dare to breath. Just then, the boots started moving again. It faced left again and continued moving in its previous path. The snapping continued. Hoya still didn’t move.

            He waited until there was utter silence again. He removed his hand from his mouth before slumping back against the rough texture of the trunk. He blew a sigh of relief, clutching his heart in an attempt to lower down his heart beat. He had never been so scared his whole life.

~~~

            Dongwoo walked away from the big tree, his lightning weapon still in his hand. He walked a few more steps before turning back to face the trunk.

            He knew there was someone in there.

~~~

            ‘Ah! Water, finally!’ Sungjong rushed up to the back of the river. It wasn’t exactly big and not much life was in it but he didn’t care. The water looked clean and drinkable. Taking the water bottle from his backpack, he filled it until the brim before chugging it down his throat in one breath. He filled it another time before shoving it down his throat once more. His throat was sore and his stomach was swollen with water. It hurt, but he needed all the water he can get for his bending.

            After filling his water bottle for the third time just in case, he water bended his way across the water, freezing a small a part before he melted it into water again. He made his way back into the forest. It was getting dark. That means a need for shelter and food.

            Food.

            What food was there?

            As he ventured his way through the vines and big leaves, he stumbled across a bunch of squirrels in a tree. They were happily plucking out nuts from the tree. Sungjong smiled as he looked at his dinner.

            It took about half an hour before he could finally get hold of his dinner. The squirrels were fast. Really fast. He looked at his water bottle. It was three quarter empty. He had used all of that  just to capture that one meal.

            ‘Aishh. Annoying little brat.’ He looked at the golden shape of the squirrel that was above a fire. In a few minutes, it would be all cooked. Two minutes later, he started stuffing his mouth with the squirrel’s meat. Damn, he was starving. The heat burned his tongue but he didn’t care. He finished half of it in a matter of seconds.

            Then, from a distance, he heard loud breathing. Sungjong stopped eating and looked around. There was no one. But he knew it wasn’t true.

            He started walking around, checking every corner and hole. Eventhough there was no one that could be seen; the loud breathing could still be heard. He listened carefully as he walked towards the sound. There, he saw a black figure. It was moving but it looked more like it was shaking. Wait no...shivering?

            Shivering? Was it a person? Or was it just a trap?

            Sungjong opened the water bottle that was strapped across his chest. He felt the water just above his palm, ready to strike at the figure if he made a move. Carefully, he walked over to the other side of the figure, his hand still on the water bottle. It was his only saviour now.

            Then, the black figure jerked up and a loud thus could be heard.

            ‘OW!’

~~~

            It was freezing. Freezing cold. He didn’t know how to make the air warmer considering he’s an air bender. Sungyeol crossed his arms and lifted his knees to his chest. Rolling up into a ball, he tried concentrating all his warmth.

            Soon, he started shivering and his breathing became loud. He was really cold. Then, he heard faint footsteps from behind. Sungyeol’s eyes grew big upon hearing them. He started shaking more. He tried to think of an escape or a way to fight back, but he was scared .

            He felt the footsteps at his legs when he jerked, frightened. He felt his head getting dizzy. He scratched and rubbed the part where it hurt. He had hit the tree.

            ‘OW!’ he screamed before peeping up to meet another pair of eyes.

            The guy looked as startled as he was. Both his hand were on his right where a small water bottle lay. His face was barely visible, only a part of it could be seen from the moonlight. Then Sungyeol’s mind just clicked. The guy looked so familiar.

            ‘Sungyeol?’ The guy muttered.

            ‘Sungjong?’ Sungyeol then remembered it was the pretty boy he met on the second day of training.

            ‘Aishh, you scared the hell out of me!’ Pretty boy put down his hand before closing his water bottle.

            ‘Same here!’ Sungyeol shouted back. Then there was silence. ‘Ermm, y-you’re not going to...k-kill me...right?’

            ‘Ermm, no. I don’t think so. You’re nice. I don’t kill nice people.’ He replied.

            ‘Oh, okay thanks. I won’t too.’ Silence again. ‘Okay, I should move then.’ Sungyeol started to get up.

            ‘Ah no!’ Sungjong shouted. Sungyeol looked at him, a little puzzled. Embarrassed, Sungjong looked down before meeting his eyes again.

            ‘I mean, you can stay here. I have food and water. A jacket too if you want to borrow it. I mean...this is a death game anyways, so a little company won’t hurt right. Well, before we...die.’ He continued.

            Sungyeol still gave him the puzzled look. Something about the pretty boy was strangely weird but a part of him liked his character.

            ‘Ermm, okay sure. Thanks.’ Sungyeol mumbled to him. Sungjong gave him a big smile before returning to his campsite where the fire was still brightly lit up. Sungjong handed Sungyeol his jacket. He thanked the pretty boy again. Sungyeol smiled to himself.

            ‘I might actually like this pretty dude.’ It replayed through his mind the whole night.

~~~