It was just after midnight when I finally woke up, and I could see that all the members were sound asleep in huddles around the counter. With a sigh, I forced myself to climb out from under the blankets to get a drink. I only had two meals yesterday but it seemed like I’d lost my appetite, so I hurried past the shelves of food. After shuffling around in the no longer working fridge, I managed to find an unopened bottle and immediately gulped down half of the contents, relieved to have quenched my thirst.

No longer feeling sleepy, I felt that I needed some time to myself and stepped out of the canteen. There was a chill rustling through in the air tonight and I shivered, realizing I had forgotten my jacket inside. I wasn’t bothered to go back inside though and sat down on one of the steps, taking out my half-full phone. It had been completely charged yesterday morning, but I had used it to take a lot of pictures during the school tour. All my games required internet access, so playing wasn’t an option. Somehow, the perpetrator had wiped out the modem, so no-one was able to contact anyone outside. And now that I thought about it… Wasn’t it like we were trapped here?

Trapped by some sicko who was treating this all like a game. But then that meant all we had to do was track the person down and force him into defeat, thus winning the so-called ‘game’.

It wasn’t like I was feeling particularly pessimistic or anything, but I still opened up the recording application on my phone, hoping to leave a message for when (or if) I escape. It took a few attempts to record it without laughing nervously or suddenly going blank, so the battery was almost all gone by the time I’d finally done it successfully. Oh well. I doubted I had any more use for it anyway. However, just to be sure, I tucked it away back inside the pockets of my trousers.

My fingers came into contact with something small, and I abruptly remembered the item I had taken from the masked boy. Curious to know what it was, I took it out and stared at the scrap of paper in my hand. The only thing written on it was a large T, and there was nothing else on the back either. It didn’t seem to be significant in any way, but there was a possibility I would need something to write on, so I put it away with my phone.
By the time I finally glanced up at the sky, the sun was already beginning to come up, with rays of its light casting shadows over the grass before me. It was an eerie sight to be honest, especially since I was in a school at the moment.

“Up already?” Suho appeared from behind me, settling himself down on the steps as well. I nodded, a little surprised. I hadn’t expected the leader to be up this early. “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.” I added in to my response, letting out a contradictory yawn. I was known by the other members as the early bird, so I guessed I should’ve said something else.
“Well, while you were sleeping yesterday, we discussed our plan for today.” Suho told me, holding out a notebook. “We’re going to start looking for survivors and ways to contact those outside, in these assigned groups.”

Searching for Survivors – Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol
Searching for Phones – Sehun, Luhan, Kai
Searching for Broadcasting Room – Xiumin, D.O, Tao

“Just so you know, they were chosen at random.” He hastily added, before taking back the notebook. “Kris is staying behind due to his injuries, and Lay also to treat them.” I figured it was a good idea, since making an announcement to the whole school would be like killing two birds with one stone. We could gather up the survivors, and possibly the perpetrator and his masked followers as well. “Ah, the sun’s up now. Time to wake everyone and put the plan into action.” Suho commented, glancing up at the sky.

Almost all the members were already awake anyway, so it wasn’t that much of a difficulty. Just a few groans and ‘five minutes more’ here and there, and we were ready. After a small and quick breakfast, we headed outside to revise the plan for today again. “Alright, do we still remember our groups? Group S search for survivors by going through the rooms of the whole school. Group P search for any useable phones that can call people outside. Group B search for the broadcasting room to call out the survivors.” The leader explained, slightly turning his head to nod at Lay standing in the corner. “We assemble back here at five regardless of your progress. For lunch, take these plastic bags filled with sandwiches and water-bottles. And with that having been said… Good luck, take care of yourselves and let’s go!”

I looked around for the other two in my group and we decided to use our map to make things easier. “It’s not too far from here, and we still have twelve hours.” I said, drawing a red circle around the map’s canteen and broadcasting room. “Let’s take this route, since it’s faster.” D.O and Tao nodded in understanding, seeming to have acknowledged me as the group’s leader. Well, I would do whatever was necessary to ensure our survival and make sure something like Chen’s death doesn’t happen again.