With a yell, I managed to push D.O away in time, avoiding the large chunk of ceiling that suddenly collapsed down from above. “That… Was close…” He breathed, staring at the hole that had been left behind. I simply nodded in reply, brushing bits of dirt off my trousers and shirt.

The third member of the trio sat cowering in the corner, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes as he waited for us to finally say that it was all over.

“Tao, sooner or later, a puddle of tears will be surrounding you.” I commented, making my way over to the panda-nicknamed male. He looked up in surprise and abruptly stood up again, crossing his arms.

“Something got into my eye, that’s all!” He protested with a scowl, making D.O and I laugh in response. Sure, he could say that for as long as he wanted but deep inside, we all knew it was not to be.

Nothing was said about it though, because as members of Exo, we were to stick together no matter the circumstances.

“Come on, it’s not too far now.” D.O said, his eyes darting around the hallway we were standing in, being alert for anything that could be of danger to us.

He was, however, too late to hear the growing sounds of footsteps with students rushing towards us, all wearing masks.

Masks similar to that of the boy we had found and fought off yesterday.

Without even a mere glance at each other, the three of us began bolting the opposite way, down the corridor and into the nearest open classroom we could find. Upon entering, we turned around to lock the door, dismayed to see one extremely fast boy had pried his fingers in between the gaps to prevent us from doing so.

“Crap! What do we do now?!” Tao panicked, not knowing whether to slam the door forcefully and risk breaking the teen’s fingers, or allow him to open it and risk getting us all killed.

“I… Just let me think…” I mumbled, hastily wiping my sweaty palms on my now tattered and ripped shirt. And I had just bought it last week too.

“Dammit… We almost reached the broadcasting room!” D.O sighed, finally managing to make the teen withdraw his hands in order to properly close the door.

He jogged over to a table and began dragging it over to use as some sort of barrier to hold against the growing crowd of enemies. “We can’t stay in here forever, and we also can’t contact the others.”

I bit my lip in frustration, feeling tiny streams of blood leaking through the wound onto my tongue. No good. My mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of possible bad things that could happen, so I was unable to think of any proper solutions.

 “Ah, I think I may have an idea…” D.O suddenly spoke up against the deafening silence surrounding the three of us. My head perked right up, curious to hear what he had to say. “Tao and I will try to make a path by breaking through the students, so Xiumin can get to the broadcasting room without too much difficulty.”

I opened my mouth to protest against what he said. It wasn’t fair for them to have their lives put in dangers just for me, after all. Wouldn’t it be better for the three of us to do it together? “No-“ I began to say, but was cut off by D.O’s words.

“Xiumin, you are quite good at running so you should go. Having just you doing the job is much safer than all of us going. And besides, we have Tao right here as well.” Said person grinned proudly upon hearing his name being spoken out loud, obviously feeling praised for his martial art skills.

Sighing deeply, I put my head in my hands, knowing that D.O’s words were in fact true and logical. If only I went, the chance of succeeding would be greater, because then no-one would be holding me back- I slapped my face, gritting my teeth in anger at myself.

What was I thinking? As if my precious friends would be considered hindrances to me!

Straightening up, I locked eyes with the others and finally nodded in agreement. “Fine. But if I feel that any of you require help, I swear I’ll turn back around.” They simply laughed in response, giving me a slap on the back.

“Right, right!” D.O smiled, his usually blank, dazed face lit up brightly like a lamp would.

And with that having been said, they made their way towards the door and flung it open, letting out exclamations of surprise when the students immediately began rushing in.

Several minutes had passed since then, and a clear pathway was now visible. Tao, in the middle of kicking someone in the shin, nodded at me and I took that as my cue to run. Without much hesitation, I started running through all the masked teenagers, ducking just in time when one swung a block of wood at my head.

Jesus Christ, who would’ve thought such adolescents could be so dangerous?

The room was now in sight and despite the fact that my legs were becoming numb from exhaustion, I sprinted towards it and literally tumbled inside.

For some reason, the door had been opened by someone, but I wasn’t going to investigate that issue until I had accomplished what I was supposed to do. Cursing under my breath, I fumbled my hands around the cluttered table, searching for the much needed microphone.

When I bent over to check the ground, I heard the sound of my phone falling out, but decided to just pick it up later. The microphone was more important at the moment after all.

“Aha! Found you!” I exclaimed in relief, reaching my hands out for the object. However, upon my fingers curling around it, I caught sight of someone in the corner of my right eye; a masked boy sporting red hair and bloodstained clothing.

And that was the last thing I saw before I felt something hard connecting with my head and everything turned black.