BaekHyun let out a lethargic groan as he collapsed onto the black sand in exhaustion. He and JoonMyeon had been walking along the beach for hours hoping to come across people or something that would point to their existence yet so far, they've come across nothing. His face was rubicund and glistening with a thin layer of sweat due to the heat. His sides, back and calves ached from the hours of walking and his right shoulder and wrist throbbed in agonizing pain, a clear sign that they were probably either sprained or strained.

"Come on Baek, we can't stop. We have to find the others." JoonMyeon urged, reaching down and grabbing a hold of the younger's arm and giving it a feeble tug. He too was tired of walking yet he refused to let his body succumb to it. Not until he found the others. "Please BaekHyun, stand up."

BaekHyun pulled his arm free from the EXO leader's weak grip. "But I'm tired. We've been walking for hours now yet we still haven't found anyone." He exhaled a jaded sigh as he cast his gaze downwards, his hope in finding their members or even people slowly diminishing. "Maybe they're not here? Maybe-maybe they're lost at sea or-or de-"

"Don't say it." JoonMyeon dropped to his knees and grabbed the younger by the shoulders as he muttered in a low pleading whisper, "Please don't think like that, they could still be alive. They could be on this very island, alive and well. You gotta be believe that they made it, so you can't give up. We can't give up."

BaekHyun stared at JoonMyeon, his tired dark brown eyes bored into his leader's somber black ones. It was obvious JoonMyeon had already thought about those possibilities, yet he was trying his hardest to convince himself otherwise as a way to keep going.

BaekHyun let his gaze falter on the right side of JoonMyeon's face. His right eye was bruised an ugly violet-red in color and slightly swollen and the bottom lip was caked with a thin layer of dried blood from where it was split open. "Does it hurt? Your eye, I mean."

JoonMyeon brought a hand up to his face and tenderly pressed his fingers against the contusion before shaking his head. "No, it's just bruised. How about you? Are you okay?" He inquired, checking the younger over. 

"Just some chest pain and a sprained wrist and shoulder, but I'm fine." BaekHyun replied cradling his injured wrist to his chest only to wince when he inadvertently squeezed a little too hard.

JoonMyeon snorted a soft chuckle as he sat down next to the younger and leaned his weight back on his hands. "Now is one of those times you wished Lay actually had the power to heal huh?" 

BaekHyun followed soon after with small laugh of his own, "Yeah, yeah it is."

The two grew silent after that, JoonMyeon deciding to stare out towards the ocean and watch the waves roll and slosh against the sandy edge while BaekHyun drew his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them to rest. Neither one saying anything as their thoughts were far more preoccupied with the well-beings and whereabouts of their groupmates. So badly did they wish everyone was here with them.

They missed his friends. They missed Kris and his snarky comments, and ChanYeol's extroverted personality. They missed introverted meek KyungSoo, Lay and his mellowness, charismatic JongDae, the trouble triplets JongIn, SeHun and Tao, and their baby-faced Hyungs MinSeok and LuHan. 

Exhaling a sigh, JoonMyeon brushed the sand from his hands and backside before he stood and outstretched a hand towards BaekHyun. "You ready to get moving?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." BaekHyun grabbed ahold of the extended hand and pulled himself up. He dusted the sand from his backside before sidling up alongside JoonMyeon.

They hadn't made it but maybe eight or ten feet before JoonMyeon noticed a trail of shoe impressions in the unmarked sand. The outline and intricate shoe design on the soles being no mistake. "Hyung," BaekHyun whispered staring at the impressions, "those prints...are they..."

JoonMyeon nodded, a sense of relief coming over him. "Yeah. Someone else is here." JoonMyeon knelt down as he continued to look at shoe tracks. How had they not noticed them before? He looked over his shoulder trying to find the rest of the trail that had fused with their own.

The two began to follow the tracks right up until the trail made a sharp pivet and disappeared into the thick vegetation of the forest.

BaekHyun and JoonMyeon paused at the edge of the woodland. Their stomachs twisting in knots as their hearts suddenly sped up in rate. Something was not right about these woods and their bodies felt it yet JoonMyeon was determined. Clasping their hands together, JoonMyeon stepped into the earthly realm. "Come on let's go."

Taking a deep breath and expelling it in a shaky breath, BaekHyun followed close behind JoonMyeon as they entered the crowd of timber.

                                                                 *********

Heaving a sigh, ChanYeol came to a standstill, the sponge-like ground depressing slightly under his weight. He tossed his head back to gaze up at the shaded white sun gleaming down on him from in between the cluster of trees. His swollen and bruised nose throbbed in a dull ache as he tightened up his face to keep the glimmer of light that manage to shine through the canopy out of his eyes. His skin was sticky with sweat and his red wine hair hung in limp clumps against his forehead due to the warm humidity in the air.

Shifting his gaze from the sun, ChanYeol glanced around at the lush foliage standing tall around him. Birds sat on branches overhead, chirping in tune with the ominous sounds of other animals. The whole woodland floor was enveloped in an intermixture of mud, grass, moss and shrubs of tropical flowers. Ferns and trees surpassed all as epiphytic moss, plants and slithering liana vines decorate tree trunks and branches. 

Given the current situation of being stranded and lost, ChanYeol felt as though he shouldn't be so fascinated with the sight as much as he was yet he couldn't help but be astounded by the majestic forest. It held so much mystery and it made him curious as to what it-

Two tall dark blurs scurried across the forest floor meters in front of him before disappearing into the tall jungle bush, indistinct clicks sounded from the location. For reasons unknown, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a chill ran down his spine as he stared in the fronds the blurs ran into. What the hell was that?

From what he had learned from books and television; leopards, monkeys, snakes and other animals dwelled within the jungle. Maybe what he'd seen had been monkeys or leopards. He was going with monkeys. Definitely monkeys.

Deciding to brush off the feeling, ChanYeol turned his attention away from the scenery before him and focused behind him where the other two males he was walking with were. There had been two others, but they had long since dropped out of sight.

"Are you sure you're fine?" MinSeok inquired, his eyes trained on the ankle in worry. Yixing was seated on a mossy decayed log with MinSeok knelt before him, the younger's left ankle resting idly in his hand. It wasn't swollen nor bruised, but just by the way YiXing winced every time he tried applying pressure on it during their walk, he knew it wasn't fine.

Yixing nodded as the corner of his lips upturned into a smile giving show to his hallmark dimples. "Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?" He pointed to the cut above the older's eyebrow. It was obvious it wasn't deep, but it still risked getting an infection if not treated. "That cut above your eye-"

MinSeok waved him off. "It's alright. It doesn't hurt, but you...are you sure you're okay? I could carry you if you'd like."

YiXing shook his head to decline the offer. "I don't want to be a burden."

"I think you should be carried Hyung, it'll be easier on the ankle." ChanYeol interjected as he plopped down next to YiXing on the dead lumber. "Plus, we don't know how long it'll take before we find shelter, help, or water...those guys did say to find water right?"

"Yeah." MinSeok nodded as he glanced around at their surroundings, not much had changed since the last time they had stopped. "They said find a water source first, then search fo-"

The sound of a twig snapping and the rustling of shrubs not too far from them, had them go silent.

Hearts began to beat rapidly, sending adrenaline coursing through veins as a sense of danger came over them. 

Something wasn't right.

The forest had become eerily silent. No noise could be heard. No chirping of birds, no moving shrubs...nothing. 

It was like whatever it was didn't want them to know it's location.

There was another rustle of a shrub, much softer this time followed by low clicking similar to what ChanYeol had heard earlier. Something he knew couldn't possibly be from monkeys.

ChanYeol slowly slid off the log, crouched down next to YiXing and ushered him onto his back. "I think we should get moving." He whispered once the second oldest's arms were secure around his neck and his hands were hooked together underneath the bend of YiXing's knees. He trudged forward in a direction, silently praying it was away from the noise they had just heard. 

MinSeok took longer to start walking, the feeling of being watched had him scanning the foliage briefly for movement.

Still nothing. 

"Come on Hyung, we have to keep moving." ChanYeol advised, positioning YiXing higher up on his back. "Don't want whatever's out there coming after us."

MinSeok looked back at ChanYeol, completely missing how the bushes bent ever-so slowly to reveal a pointed scaly snout. "Yeah." He nodded, "Okay, I'm coming." He returned his gaze back towards the foliage for one final lookover before following after the others.