Hours had passed since the boys had first discovered the disturbing bite on their friend’s leg, and they were now gathered around the campfire as they continued to argue about what to do next.

“He hasn’t woken up yet,” announced Luhan as he ducked out of the tent where Lay was still sleeping - breathing peacefully, now. “The bite looks worse, though. The skin around it is turning black.” He took a seat next to Tao and buried his head in his hands.

“We need to get out of here,” Kris resumed the conversation forcefully. “Now.”

“I know,” said Xiumin, “but I don’t want to move Yixing. All of those cuts on his chest could open back up. We don’t even know if he has any internal injuries.”

“He is starting to bruise along his sides,” agreed Luhan.

“And those cuts could get infected,” continued Xiumin.

“Which is exactly why we need to get him to a hospital, Immediately,” said Kris, his voice rising. “We’ve wasted too much time already. What are we doing just sitting around discussing things? We should be halfway out of here by now.”

“That’s the other problem,” countered Chen. “There’s no way we can carry Lay through all of the rough terrain around here safely. We need help to come to us.”

“But it’s not going to come if we just sit here in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact anyone!” yelled Kris, exasperated.

He looked from face to face around the circle, breathing heavily. Everyone was growing tense because the answer to their problems seemed to be nowhere in sight, when Tao spoke up.

“Let’s just send one of us to get help,” he proposed. “Wouldn’t that solve all of our problems?”

“Yes,” said Kris, quickly jumping up. “I’m going.”

He had already started stuffing whatever supplies he could grab into his backpack when Xiumin cautiously approached him.

“By yourself?” asked the older man. “I don’t know if I like the idea of splitting up the group…”

“It has to be done,” said Kris. “Tao is right; this is the only solution. And besides, I’ll be fast on my own. I know the way out, and I can drive the car somewhere to get help.”

“But do you really want to be all alone in the woods?” pushed Xiumin.

“I’ll be fine. It’s barely noon; I can be out and back before sunset. You need to be here to take care of Lay, Chen is still too shaken up to go, and Luhan should stay to help you look after everything. And, like I said, it will be quicker if I just go by myself.”

“But what about Tao?” asked Xiumin, still unwilling to let Kris go.

Kris threw an inquisitive look to Tao, who said, “If it’s all the same to you guys, I’d really rather stay here. I’m not too eager to go back into the woods after last night.”

Kris looked hurt, but only for a second before his excitement at finally executing a plan took over. “That’s fine, Tao,” he said as he hurried to the entrance.

“So that’s it?” clarified Luhan as he followed closely behind. “You’re leaving?”

“Yep,” said Kris, the annoyance starting to show in his voice. “We can’t afford any more delays.”

He waved goodbye to the remaining four men before turning and jogging down the dirt path. In a matter of seconds, he had disappeared amid the trees.

«««

“I don’t like splitting up,” said Xiumin grumpily as he walked back over to the fire, which had already died down considerably. He poked a twig at one of the burning logs a few times before surrendering it to the flames. “But I suppose it has to be done.” He rubbed his temples as Luhan bent down next to him to put an arm around his shoulder.

“It will be okay, little worrying Baozi,” he comforted his friend. “Kris knows how to take care of himself, and it’s best that we’re all here in case Lay needs something.”

“I still don’t understand what the heck is even going on, though,” said Chen, who was standing behind the two crouching men. “What could have done that to Yixing?”

“Well, let’s go over the facts again,” said Luhan calmly as he shifted into a sitting position on the damp ground.

When the morning’s conversation had not been focused on coming up with a plan of action, it had consisted of trying to figure out what exactly had happened the night before. The five men had taken turns bouncing all sorts of ideas off of each other, but had never arrived at an entirely acceptable conclusion. Luhan began:

“Lay’s chest and arms were covered with shallow cuts when we found him - his back was fine. The blood was still wet, so he couldn’t have been attacked too long before we woke up. There was a bite on his thigh…” He trailed off.

“Which can’t possibly belong to any human or animal that we know of,” finished Chen.

“Right,” agreed Luhan with a sigh. “The tent wasn’t broken into,” he resumed his list. “In fact, the flap was zippered when we found him.”

“And everyone else was completely untouched,” added Xiumin. “Even Tao and Kris, who were sleeping outside.”

“Even Chen, who was in the same tent,” said Tao.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything,” said Chen somewhat angrily as his head snapped up.

“No one is saying you did, Jongdae,” interrupted Luhan. “You obviously didn’t leave that bite mark; we all know that. We’re just saying it’s weird. Nothing makes any sense,” he confessed, looking around at the rest of the group.

“No one heard anything last night?” Xiumin asked, although they all already knew the answer. One by one, the other three men shook their heads. An uneasy silence fell over the campgrounds.

“None of this makes any goddamn sense,” growled Chen.

Slowly, the group dispersed, leaving everyone to go about doing menial tasks around the campsite. Their repeated failure at coming up with any sort of answer for the question that was on all of their minds had only served to frustrate everyone further. After some time had passed, Xiumin went back into the tent to check on Lay, and Luhan followed him without a word.

«««

“What do you really think about all of this?” asked the older man as he worked.

“I think it’s creepy as hell,” said Luhan. “We’re out here in the woods with some… thing that’s attacking us.” He looked at the small scratches that covered Lay. “And we don’t know what it wants - if it wants something. We don’t even know what in the world it is.”

As the other man spoke, a vibration came from Xiumin’s pocket. Xiumin gave Luhan a confused look before taking out his cell phone and looking at its screen.

“Oh, man, you get service out here?” Luhan blurted out. “Ugh, we’re so stupid! We didn’t even think to check -”

“Shhh,” Xiumin shushed him. “Hang on.”

“What?” Luhan scooted over to look at the message glowing on Xiumin’s phone. “Who’s it from?”

Xiumin’s brows furrowed as he rechecked the sender’s name. He put the phone down and looked into Luhan’s eyes.

“Will you please tell me who it’s from?” asked Luhan again as he started to get slightly creeped out by Xiumin’s odd behavior.

Xiumin looked back down at his phone as he answered: “Tao.”

«««

“Wait, what?” said Luhan, flabbergasted. “Why is Tao texting you when he’s right over -”

“Luhan, be quiet; please,” Xiumin interrupted.

He peeked out the door of the tent to see Tao sitting several meters away, talking with Chen. Neither of them seemed to have heard what was going on inside the tent, so Xiumin turned his attention back to his phone.

“Could you tell me what the heck is going on right now?” pleaded Luhan in a voice that was barely above a panicked whisper.

Xiumin showed him the phone as he reopened the message.

“Hey! How’s it going?” the little text bubble read, seemingly normal enough.

“Tao, why are you texting me?” Xiumin sent as a reply.

Both men were glued to the phone as they awaited a response, which came a minute later. “Sheesh,” read the text message, “if that’s what I get for checking up on my friends, then next time I just won’t ask. Are you guys doing alright or not?”

Xiumin ignored the question once again, and typed, “Tao, where are you right now?”

This time, the pair thought to watch Tao on the other side of the campground as they waited for his answer. They both looked through the partially open tent flap to see Tao and Chen carrying on their conversation as if nothing had been happening. Xiumin’s phone buzzed again, and he and Luhan stared at each other with a look of terror in their eyes. Tao hadn’t moved.

“I’m with Kai and Sehun,” claimed the message.

Luhan gulped heavily. A few seconds later, a picture appeared below the text. It showed Tao, Kai, and Sehun wearing sunglasses and holding glasses of bubble tea. Sehun had his tongue stuck out at the camera. “Maknae Weekend!” read the caption cheerily.

Xiumin lowered the phone and stared straight ahead at Luhan, who made no attempt to explain what had just happened. After a short but painful silence, the phone went off again, signaling that another message had arrived. Xiumin took a deep breath before looking at it.

“Seriously, though, how are you guys doing?” it prodded. “Suho is getting worried - as always, haha.”

“Zitao, something is wrong. Lay got hurt and we’re not sure what’s going on. I’ll try to call and explain later, but I can’t right now. Gotta go,” replied Xiumin. He knew that everyone back at the hotel would be sent into a panic because of his cryptic message, but he had to figure out for himself what exactly was going on before he went telling other people about it.

«««

Just then, someone appeared at the tent’s entrance. They pushed halfway past the flap before greeting the two men inside.

“Tao was just wondering how Lay was doing, so I told him I’d check. I think our poor maknae is really scared and upset,” explained Chen in a worried tone as he looked over his shoulder.

Luhan and Xiumin glanced at each other with a mixture of fear and relief before yanking Chen the rest of the way inside the tent.

“We need to talk to you about something for a minute, Jongdae,” explained Xiumin quietly.

“Just you,” added Luhan quickly.

“Oh… Okay,” said Chen, slightly perplexed. He stuck his head out and yelled to Tao, “Hey, I’ll be out in a minute! The hyungs just need me for something.” He looked back at Luhan and Xiumin, who were watching him with concerned expressions.

“Jongdae, you have to look at this,” whispered Xiumin as, fumbling, he shoved his phone into Chen’s hands. “I got this text just now.”

Chen’s eyes widened as he read the short exchange. “But Tao has been -”

Xiumin and Luhan both scrambled to cover Chen’s mouth. “Quiet!” hissed Luhan. “We have to be quiet. Don’t you get it?”

“No!” whispered Chen harshly as he pushed Luhan’s hand away from his face. “Why? Do you two get it?!”

“Of course we don’t,” barked Xiumin, “but it’s pretty freaking obvious that something is going on here, and it has to do with Tao. So if we could all just keep our voices down and figure out what’s happening, then that would be really super.”

Lay stirred slightly at their feet. All three shifted their attention to the injured man, but he fell back asleep without a word.

“What if that’s… not Tao out there?” said Luhan, even quieter than before.

“I think it’s pretty clear that that’s not Tao,” breathed Chen. “I mean, think about it. He just shows up out of nowhere at 7PM when we’re all in the middle of the woods? No; Huang Zitao wouldn’t walk through the woods alone during the middle of the goddamn day. Can either of you imagine him being brave enough to find his way through a forest - without a map, might I add - as the sun is setting?” Xiumin and Luhan said nothing, but exchanged knowing glances. “And would Suho even let Tao do that? Would he be the one to drive him out here and say, ‘Okay! Good luck finding your friends in a dark forest full of bugs and wild animals and poison ivy. Sorry you forgot the map, but see you later, Taozi.’ Would he? No. Of course he wouldn’t, and we were all stupid to ever think that he would.”

“Well, what were we supposed to believe?” defended Luhan. “Were we supposed to think that that wasn’t Tao? Were we supposed to kick him out and make him sleep in the woods?”

“No, we weren’t,” agreed Xiumin, “because that person looks exactly like Tao. He acts exactly like Tao. Kris talked with him all night, and he didn’t seem suspicious at all before he left. Has anyone else thought for one second that that person might not be Tao?”

Luhan shook his head, but Chen made no attempt at answering. Instead, he opted to pose another question.

“What makes you think that that thing out there is human?”

“He looks human,” said Xiumin.

“Yeah, but normal humans don’t show up at other people’s campsites and pretend to be their friend AND blend perfectly into some kind of freaky, alternate persona. Normal humans don’t do this,” Chen pulled back Lay’s sleeping bag and pointed at the bite on the sleeping man’s leg.

Luhan gasped softly. “You think…”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” retorted Chen. “That… well, whatever-that-thing-is out there decides to show up, mimic the missing member of our group, and attack one of us while we sleep. Then it zips up the tent, turns back into Tao, and acts like it knows nothing.”

“So you think that whatever is out there is… some kind of shape shifter?” asked Xiumin. Chen nodded. “That’s kind of a hefty accusation to throw at someone,” the older man sighed, but he didn’t disagree with Chen’s idea.

“I wish you would stop calling it a ‘someone,’” Chen snapped. “Whatever is out there is obviously a something; not a someone.”

The tent was silent for a few moments before Xiumin spoke again. “Well, what are we going to do?” he questioned.

Before anyone could answer, however, Tao was beside them in the small tent.