Woohyun’s eyes shot open. His heart started beating hard. His breathing became a fast pant. He held himself on the branch of the tree as his eyes adjusted to the bright daylight. He looked around and saw birds flying up to the sky as the trees below shook, with the sound of the leaves rustling together.

            He had heard a scream.

            A scream that cried for help.

            Frightened, he jumped down from the high branch. He tried to land softly on his feet but he ended up on his right side. His right arm cried in pain but he tried not to scream it all out. Instead, he clutched it while using all his strength to push himself up. He needed to keep moving. The scream was close by. He didn’t want to get hurt or worse...die.

He head towards the thick bushes before finding himself in a cluster of tall trees. It was cooling and it created a big open space for him. He was still clutching his arm. His right leg hurt too, and now he started limping. But he still continued to move. Looking up at the sky and down at the ground, he made sure no one was following him. The killer could be anywhere by now. And in his condition, there wouldn’t be any chance of winning a fight.

Quickening his pace, Woohyun tripped and fell on his chest. He struggled to breathe and he felt his head getting faint and light. He again forced himself to stand up when suddenly, the same rustle of leaves could be heard from behind.

Woohyun’s eyes widened as he quickly limped himself to the nearest bush. He squatted behind it looking through the tiny holes. There, he saw a figure.

~~~

Looking at his hands, Sunggyu couldn’t believe what he just did. His palms balled into fists as he closed his eyes. He screamed in frustration. He never wanted to hurt anybody, especially with that other side of him. He got up and turned to the lifeless body on the ground. Blood streaked across the guy’s face with many deep cuts across both of his cheeks. His legs and arms were all stained red, the blood endlessly flowing out from the wounds.

The guy looked at least five years younger than him. His face was a handsome one and Sunggyu would have guessed that he had a good character just by the look at his innocent face. He probably would have a good future ahead. But all of that couldn’t happen to him now because Sunggyu had killed him.

Sunggyu felt his tears running down his cheeks. It stung the scars he had gained from the fight between them but he didn’t care. The guilt inside of him was what mattered now. He blamed himself for what had happened to him. And it wasn’t him who did it.

It was the other guy.

The other side of him that no one knew. The other side of him that he wanted to erase so badly, because he knew it would just harm everyone around him.

Sunggyu bent down as he knelt in front of the body before closing the guy’s eyes that were open before his death.

‘I’m so sorry...’ Sunggyu tried to cry loudly. Getting up, he ran from the dead body into the forest again. He didn’t know where he was going but he had to get away from there. He wiped away the tears that were already streaming down to his neck. Slowly, his run became a walk. Pushing past long branches and thick bush leaves, he walked endlessly amongst the green.

As he walked through a thick bush, he found himself in a rather big open space. The trees were enormous. All of them grew upwards as if wanting to touch the sky. It was a pretty sight. He continued walking, admiring the beautiful trees. Then, he heard the snap of a twig.

Frozen at his footsteps, he turned. He wasn’t afraid, he was merely curious. He found a bush that was nearest to him. It moved a little. Surprised, he inched his way closer to it. Step by step, he cocked his head in every direction to catch a glimpse of the intruder.

A few steps later, he stopped. He moved his face nearer to the bush. He didn’t want to pick a fight. He started to mutter, ‘H-hell....?’

 Before he could even finish, he felt himself flinging backwards. His back arched in a way that he taught was never possible. His spine felt like it was going to break. Full impact towards the thick bark of the tree.

Fighting the pain, he tried pushing himself up. He didn’t want to be involved in another fight. Not again. He stood on his legs but pushing all his weight on his toes. His heels were aching form the impact. The figure in front of him started moving towards him, limping. Sunggyu’s vision started to readjust. The figure appeared to be the man that had water bended him a few days before the start of the game in the middle of the night.

The guy’s face was covered with sweat and he had scars on his right cheek. Holding onto his right leg, he brought his left hand up swinging it as hard as he can to Sunggyu’s face. Before it could even touch Sunggyu’s fair cheek, it was stopped by Sunggyu’s arm. Sunggyu looked up at the water bender with his small fierce eyes.

It wasn’t Sunggyu controlling him anymore.

It was the other side of him.

‘Run!’ Sunggyu tried to shout at the water bender, but nothing came out. In a flash, a huge rock punched the water bender in the stomach as he flew backwards. The water bender groaned in pain, clutching his stomach.

‘Stop! Stop doing this! Let me through!’ Sunggyu pushed his way through the thick walls of himself but couldn’t find a way out. It was like being stuck in a net where the holes were too small to escape through. The other side of him remained silent and made his way to the water bender.

The water bender was still in pain. He couldn’t do anything. He looked up to Sunggyu who was already bending a big rock above him, waiting for the right time to crush every bone of his body. The water bender’s face was so pure, so innocent. His eyes too, pleading Sunggyu with all he can. He wasn’t trying to be innocent, he WAS innocent.

The other side of Sunggyu started to grow weak. Sunggyu pushed with all his might through the walls that barricaded him. With one last push, Sunggyu could feel back his fingers and toes. He looked down at the water bender, still in shock but as pure as ever. Quickly gaining back his senses, Sunggyu threw the rock far away from them. He bent down on both knees.

The water bender was still breathing heavily until he started closing his eyes. His head started to fall. Sunggyu rushed to hold it up, inches from the ground. The guy must have been so hurt and tired that he had fainted. Sunggyu looked at the water bender’s face.

For the first time ever, he felt his heart flutter a little. He had never seen such a handsome face before. His hair was neatly cut short, totally black. In his sleeping state, he looked like an angel with his eyes nicely closed. His nose had a nice alignment with his cheeks and jaw. His jaw line, well it was perfect. The Sunggyu’s eyes moved onto his lips. Fully blushed and pink.

Sunggyu felt the corner of his lips smirk into a smile. It slowly disappeared after the thought of the fight they had.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry you got hurt because of me,’ Sunggyu looked at the water bender’s leg. His right ankle looked a little off. ‘Well, I’ll get that fixed for you. It’s the least I can do now.’

With that, Sunggyu carefully carried the water bender in his hands as he headed off to his hiding spot.

~~~

‘Aishh, just die already!’ Myungsoo kept stepping on the burnt leaves and twigs. He had finished his lunch and he can’t get the fire to die off. ‘Ahh, whatever.’ Frustrated, he left the place with the backpack on his back.

Cough.

He touched his throat. It had been aching since the game had started. Mentally, he counted.

Day 5.

Great. Five days without water. And no rain either. Looking for a river or lake was hard enough. He couldn’t believe the rain could take forever to fall. Looking at his empty bottle, he cursed at it.

He started going at a slow jog. His stamina was okay so he didn’t mind. He had to keep moving. He couldn’t stay at one place for two nights. Others would find out, but he hasn’t met any of the other participants yet. Sure, he had killed a bunch on the first day when he had to grab a backpack from the safe zone, but after that; none.

It had only been about a minute when he started sweating. He wiped it off with his palm.

‘That’s weird. I don’t sweat so fast.’ He thought to himself before ignoring it.

Continuing his jog, he started panting heavily. More heavily than he used to. His head started getting light as his vision started blurring.

Cough. Cough.

He started coughing again. He scratched his throat, in an attempt to make the pain go away. Then, he felt his legs getting weak.

Cough. Cough.

The coughing didn’t stop. With a loud snap, he fell onto his knees then onto his stomach. He felt the leaves tickling his nose. His vision got worst and his breathing became difficult. He wanted to get up but couldn’t feel his hands and legs. He felt numb.

A few moments later, he saw boots in front of him. He didn’t know how many due to his vision. Soon, he slowly gave way as his eyes closed, leaving him in total darkness.