I froze in my perch, my heartbeat racing as I fought to keep my panicked breathing silent. Who on Earth would be in the middle of the woods at this hour of night? I prayed that it wasn't a soldier, but I couldn't bee too cautious. As quietly as I could, I reached to pull my father's handgun from the waistband of my pants.

"Come on out, there's no use in hiding," the voice called out again, almost sounding mocking.

Bracing myself, I jumped down from the tree in front of a man who was, to my relief, not a soldier.

"Who are you?" I asked, pointing the gun at him.

"Woah, honey. Let's put the gun down." He put his hands up, smiling despite my every intention to shoot him straight through the head. "You don't know how to use that, and I'm sure you don't want to hurt anyone."

"You wanna bet?" I asked reaching in my pocket to grab a coin. I flipped the coin into the air, and quickly shot at it. When it came back down to the dirt beneath us, there was a hole right through the middle.

"Okay, so maybe you do know how to use it. Still, I doubt you want to hurt anyone," he said, hands still up and a smile still playing on his lips.

"Do you want to find that out too?" I asked, aiming the gun back at his head.

"I'd like to be alive, so no," he answered, shrugging.

"So let's try this again. Who are you?" I took a step forward, trying my hardest to look intimidating.

"The name's Himchan. Might I ask what a little lady like you is doing in the woods at this hour?" He smiled at me kindly.

My resolve faltered for a moment, and I knew that he saw that. His kind tone and easygoing attitude was throwing me off. I didn't want to like this man named Himchan. He was a stranger and that was suspicious enough without him being off in the woods. Of course, I was being suspicious running off to the woods as well, but I had a noble reason for breaking the law. His nonchalance made me think that he was breaking the law for the fun of it.

"I'm asking the questions here, is that clear?" I barked at him.

"Crystal," he answered.

"Are there others with you?" I asked, letting my eyes dart around cautiously.

"Five others," he answered curtly.

I panicked for a moment at his answer. Sure, I could take on one or two people at once if I needed to, but six was completely out of the question. I searched Himchan's eyes for any hint of him lying, but found his features to be rather open. He was being truthful. He didn't care that there was a gun pointed at him, he just simply wasn't hiding anything.

"Why are six people wandering the woods?" I asked, lowering my gun slowly and tucking it back into my waistband.

"See, this is nicer." Himchan held out his hands with a smile, stepping forward.

"I didn't say I'm trusting you, so please just answer my question," I said quickly before he could move any more.

"Ever heard of a certain group of bandits working to better peoples' lives?" He cocked his head, grinning excitedly. 

"I don't have time to listen to gossip." I swallowed. 

"But you have heard of us, haven't you?" Himchan raised an eyebrow. 

"Us?" I inquired. 

"Guys, it's alright, she's not a soldier," Himchan called out. "Meet BAP."

Before me, five men stepped out from the shadows behind Himchan. They were all of varying build, height, and age. None of them looked like the cold hard criminals the military made them out to be. It was almost comical how tough they didn't look. Had they not been heavily armed, I would have laughed or at least smiled.

"Woah, hey, I thought we didn't need that," Himchan said cautiously as my hand flew to the gun in my waistband.

"Yeah, I thought so too," I said, carefully assessing my situation.

Six men, four of which were armed visibly, stood before me. It would be suicide to take them on and my best bet would be to run. From the looks of them, perhaps only one or two of them would be good runners. If I could distract them long enough to get a head start, I would have a chance at getting away. What that distraction could be, though, was beyond me.

"We don't want to hurt you. We heard you up there and wanted to ask you some questions. Look, there's no reason for us to hurt you," one of them spoke up, opening up his hands and setting down his double barrel that he had been toting.

"Nice sawed off." I jerked my chin to his weapon, my hand still cautiously placed over my gun.

"Thank you," he said. "Now, look, I'm not armed. I just want to talk to you."

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"What's it like in the city? We've been traveling for days and we have no idea what we're going into," he asked.

"Can I have your names first? And can your friends put their guns down too?" I shot back, taking my hand away from my own gun slowly.

"I'm Yongguk, the leader. You've already met Himchan, our scout." He pointed to himself and then to Himchan before continuing. "This here is Zelo, our spy. That's Youngjae and Jongup, our combatants. And, finally, Daehyun, our thief."

"Alright, Yongguk, thanks." I nodded as he motioned for the others to put down their weapons. 

"The city?" He asked again.

"We were just taken under control a few months back. Things were rough before, but never like it is now. The only light comes from the watch towers and people are being plucked up every day by the handful." I shook my head with spite, remembering that morning when my sister had been stolen from me.

"Is that why you left? To avoid being in the army?" Yongguk pressed.

"No." I shook my head. "They took something of mine, and I'm getting it back."

"What did they take?" Daehyun perked up, suddenly interested.

"Daehyun, stand down. It's her personal life," Yongguk snapped.

"My sister, they took my little sister," I said quietly, shrinking into myself.

"Little? Isn't it the first born who goes?" Yongguk turned to me, confused.

"I'm not eligible to enlist, so they took her," I sighed.

"Not eligib-..." Before he could even finish his sentence, I pulled up my pants to reveal the metal workings of my leg.

Silence filled the six men before me as they stared at my leg. Just like everyone before them, they gawked at the metal that was where flesh and bone should have been. The glistening material was made of a super light alloy that was stronger than titanium. The joints worked just as, if not better than, a regular leg would, and only needed occasional tuning. I had lived six years of my life with it so far, and the metal had simply become an extension of myself. It even contained some secret weapons that were perfect for my situation.

"I have a proposition," Yongguk said before any of the many questions that were zipping around in their minds could be asked.

"Shoot," I said slowly.

"We both need something, so why don't we help each other? You're a good shot and you seem like you could be a decent fighter in the least. We could use someone like you on our side. I say we accompany each other and watch each other's backs. We'll help you find out where your sister is, and you can help us take out some military bases on the way. What do you say?" Yongguk held out his hand to shake expectantly.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I crossed my arms, simply casting a glance to his outstretched hand.

"We could have shot you or taken you by surprise and ambushed you, but we didn't." Yongguk offered.

"Fine," I spat, taking Yongguk's hand in mine and shaking firmly, "but the second gets real, I'm outtie. I don't kill people, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Himchan grinned from Yongguk's side, nodding as if everything had gone to plan.

What on Earth did you get yourself into, Astra?