A/N~ SO! We're nearing 10k words and we have 9 chapters! Thanks for putting up with my crappy writing and I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes or misspellings of any words. In a few chapters time (don't ask me how many just yet...) I have a surprise for you all. Make sure you read my author's notes... I don't write them very often and whatever I say in them is important (most of the time...) so. Yeah. Um. Enjoy?

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I opened my eyes to soft pre-dawn light. They sky had a faint glow to it but the ground was still dark. It was rather cold. I tossed and turned for a little while but then I gave up on trying to get back to sleep. I stood up and tripped over a rock I had overlooked. The shadows were impossible to separate from the darkness. I looked to the horizon and spotted someone sitting on a small rise. I made my way over, stumbling every few seconds on some unseen hazard. When I reached the figure, I realised it was Taek. I sat down next to him. So many things were spinning through my mind but I didn’t want to disturb the silence by vocalising them so I just kept my mouth shut. I could tell something was weighing heavily on Taek’s mind by the tension in his body. He didn’t say anything and I didn’t push him. The world around us was completely silent, even the wind didn’t raise its voice. It was a little eerie. We sat on the rise until the sun peaked over the edge of the world and cast a bright light over everything. I half closed my eyes against the glare as the rays warmed my face. Taek stood and went to wake the others. I sat in the warmth for a little longer and then joined the others. The sounds of life echoed softly through the stillness of the early morning. We had cold porridge from the other day for breakfast. The novelty was going to wear off very quickly if this was what we were going to eat for the whole 9 days. Luckily, or unluckily, (I hadn’t decided yet) we ran out of porridge after Ravi went for seconds. Leo gathered everyone and though we already knew our roles he went over everything again quickly.

We broke off and started preparing ourselves and our gear. I was only allowed to take my survival bag and one gun as well as the ammo for that gun. Leo explained to me that I had to be able to move as quickly as possible so while the others took their whole packs I had to carry as little as possible. I put the larger gun in my pack as well as it’s ammo and opted for taking more for my handgun. When I saw Leo’s raised eyebrow I explained to him that I wasn’t as good a shot as the others (I’d only managed to hit the 500 metre target once and it was no where near the centre… the closer ones I was only with, I’d hit the ring closest to the centre 3 times, but I hadn’t hit a bullseye yet) and if I was to do a lot of running, I needed something I could aim, fire and reload on the run and a huge bulky gun wasn’t going to help me in that situation. Leo only nodded at me and took my extra ammo and stored it in his pouch. He also took out the ammo for his handgun and held it out to me.

“I can’t take this Leo. You’re much more likely to need it that I am.”

In response he grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. I felt him ping my ammo pouch and I struggled to turn around but he was stronger and I couldn’t move. I felt the extra weight settle in the bag as he deposited the ammunition and zipped closed the bag. I sighed and flicked his forehead before walking over to Ravi.

“Leo is a royal pain in the sometimes.”

Ravi laughed under his breath. “He does it because he cares.”

“I know that, but I wish he’d look out for himself too. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah I know. I’ll look out for him. Hongbin will too… that guy made it his personal duty to look after Leo. He’s saved his skin more times than I can count.”

A little weight disappeared from my chest and I could breathe a little easier.

“Be careful today N. We only just got you, I’d hate to lose you already.”

“Aww! Ravi-ah you DO care~!” I squealed in the most annoying teasing tone I could produce, quietly of course.

Ravi only made a face and hit me lightly on the arm.

‘I like you N. I think you’re cool, like the sibling I wish I had. I know the others feel the same, so be careful today. Yours is the most dangerous job in that it has the most things that can go wrong, so don’t take any avoidable risks please. Promise me.”

“I promise. I’ll be careful. Don’t worry Ravi-ah~ you’ve seen me run, I could outrun anything you can throw at me.”

“It’s time.” Leo’s soft voice echoed with a note on finality through our little hollow.

We piled into the car, but this time Ravi sat in the boot, with a large gun and watched our flank. Hyuk was up on the gun again, which made sense seeing as he had the best eyesight. I was on the left side of the car, behind Leo and I had a looking glass. Ken sat behind Hongbin with his gun. Hongbin drove quickly but without being reckless. Suddenly I spotted something. Halfway through my shout Hyuk fired a shot. Whatever it was collapsed on the ground. We drove through most of the recon area without another incident. Suddenly Hongbin stopped the car. He got out and pointed at something.

“These are vehicle tracks. Leo! Something or someone is here.”

“Alright. Everyone into position. N you’re with me. Let’s go.”

I followed Leo closely and with as little noise as I could manage. Thankfully our bags were packed so that nothing in them made any noise. Leo motioned for me to get down and I followed his unspoken order without question. We continued to commando crawl up a ridge similar to the one we had been sitting on earlier this morning. As we got close to the top we slowed down and peeked over. We were on the outside edge of a crater and at the bottom was another camp, though this one was fully weaponized. Everywhere I looked there were more and more guns. There also weren’t any children. I turned to Leo and he motioned to get back. Once off the crater wall he explained that this was what they called a death camp. The death camp people lived like parasites, moving into an area, using all of it’s resources and then moving on. If any of the inhabitants tried to stop them they’d be killed. Sometimes they’d take children who were around 10 or 12 and brainwash them to be part of their camps.

Leo had a plan.

Once everyone had been briefed we moved out. I made my way to my spot and waited for Leo’s signal. I didn’t have to wait long. At his signal I moved to the edge of the crater and stood up. Just to make sure our prey saw my I shouted. I heard the noises of alarm coming from them. They picked up their guns and pointed them at me.