Luhan poked his head around the trunk of a thick tree as he scanned the murky woods. His eyes fell on the shaking circle of light that was Chen’s flashlight, and he moved noiselessly toward it.

“Are you okay?” the older man asked in a strained voice.

Chen nodded without taking his eyes off of the body in front of him. Luhan followed his stare to see Kris’ beaten face - smudged with dirt and stained with tears - illuminated by the beam of light. He gasped as Lay and Xiumin came up behind him.

“What’s going on here?” questioned Lay. Immediately after he finished speaking, he saw their leader lying on his side in the dirt, blood pouring steadily from the scrape on his head. “What the hell?!” he yelled, furious.

“Yixing, stop,” said Luhan calmly. “This isn’t Kris.”

“What?” barked Lay as he pierced Luhan with an angry stare. His eyes glistened in the moonlight. “How do you know that?”

“Because Kris left hours ago,” said Luhan, “and he knew his way out of here. He would have gone to the car, which should be parked way to the east of here.” Luhan paused to take both of Lay’s hands in his. “Remember I told you that we decided to go left instead of right at a fork in the trail before you woke up? That’s because the parking lot was to the right, and a bus station is to the left, where we went. We were going to take a bus because Kris would have already used the car to go find help.”

“Kris wouldn’t have been anywhere near here,” concluded Chen in agreement as he calmed himself down. His heart was still racing, unabated.

“Well, who’s this, then?” shouted Lay, still not satisfied.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Luhan as he leaned down to get a better look at the imposter’s face. “That creature has been following us all day, trying to get us to turn around and go back to it. It must have waited, watching us sleep, for an opportunity to shapeshift into Kris so that it could try to trick us again.”

“We think it was starting to catch on to the fact that we knew what was going on before we even left the campsite,” added Xiumin.

Lay leaned against a tree, trying to wrap his head around everything that was happening. “But this looks so much like Kris,” he protested. “I would swear that this is Kris.”

“Yes, but wouldn’t you also have sworn that that was Tao last night at the campsite?” reasoned Luhan, trying to convince him.

Lay answered by burying his face in his hands.

“We all would have,” said Chen gingerly. “Before everything that’s happened today, anyway. Which is the whole point, when you think about it. You can’t tell the difference between your actual friend and…” he gestured to the lump on the ground, “this thing.”

“This isn’t who you think it is,” said Xiumin as he stared into Lay’s eyes soothingly.

“Okay,” relented Lay, although he still couldn’t fully believe what had just happened. “Okay, so this isn’t Kris. Kris doesn’t have any reason to be anywhere near this place.” He was reassuring the others just as much as he was himself.  “This isn’t Kris,” he repeated. “So what do we do? Do we get out of here? Can we really just - can we leave him? Or, it? Where are we even…” He trailed off and slumped further down the trunk.

“Yes,” said Luhan taking over for Lay. “I think we should be on our way. It’s only an hour or two until sunrise. We should just leave.”

“Wait; before we do…” said Chen. He looked around for a heavy rock, and, when he had found one, raised it above his head.

“Whoa, whoa,” Lay stopped him. “What are you doing?”

Chen faltered slightly under the weight of the rock pressing down on his injured arm. “I’m making sure it can’t follow us. Again.”

And with that, he dropped the rock that he had positioned high above the collapsed creature. It landed on Kris’ leg with a sickening crunch that made Lay turn away and Luhan cover his mouth. Chen picked up the rock a second time, preparing to let it go again, but Luhan put a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s enough,” he insisted weakly. An ugly blue and purple bruise had already started to form on Kris’ leg. Even if it wasn’t really their friend that they were hurting, it was still hard to watch. Luhan thought that the thing’s leg was probably broken in several places.

The shorter man acquiesced and hurled the rock to the side. He was breathing heavily from exertion and fear, and he tucked his head into the crook of Luhan’s neck. Chen’s breath was hot against Luhan’s collar as the older man tried to comfort him. After a minute of silence, Chen pulled away and wiped at his eyes while turning and walking back to their makeshift camp. He and the others ate a measly breakfast before hurriedly packing their things and leaving the still unconscious being where it lay.

«««

They picked a direction and moved in it - void of any conversation, and unsure of their orientation. Eventually, however, the outline of a small building came slowly into view through the early morning mist. It was still lingeringly dark when the four boys walked up to a small cabin in the middle of the forest. The structure itself was dilapidated and musky-smelling, and the windows were curtained with cobwebs.

“Should we go in?” Lay was the first to speak.

Luhan cautiously approached the steps leading up to the little porch and poked the first stair with his shoe. The old wood creaked and moaned in protest, but nothing else happened.

“We should keep moving,” said Chen. “I want to get out of here, and creepy old houses in the middle of nowhere are not really all that high up on my List of Things to Explore right now.”

“It’s not the middle of nowhere,” Xiumin corrected. “Look.” He pointed to a path leading away from the house.

No more than two kilometers away, the boys could vaguely make out the neon signs of what appeared to be a rest stop. It was a straight shot out of the woods from where they were standing. Like moths to a light, they practically skipped down the dirt road, cheering wildly in their excitement as the gas pumps and small store became more visible bit by bit. They didn’t know if the rest stop was actively used or not, but if there was anyone there, the boys imagined that the people inside were probably wondering whether or not a group of savages was about to burst from the woods. Still, with Lay’s leg slowing him down and Chen’s arm making it so that others had to increase the burden of what they were carrying, it took everyone almost the better part of an hour to finally reach their destination.

In the rising light of the day, the four campers emerged from their nightmare and hugged in celebration.

«««

After everyone had calmed down, Luhan and Xiumin were the ones to venture into the small gas station’s convenience store that was situated at the edge of the rest stop. A green neon sign above the door informed them that the building was open for business, and a faint, mechanical bell sounded as they passed through the door. Inside, they found a dusty old man slumped behind the counter.

“Excuse me.” Luhan approached the front desk with trepidation while Xiumin roamed aimlessly throughout the store. “Do you have a phone we can use? And, also, do you know if there’s a bus or something nearby that can get us out of here?”

The man looked Luhan over with glazed and drooping eyes before slowly hoisting himself up from his chair and shuffling around to the front of the counter. Luhan thought the man seemed like he was judging him, and suddenly became aware of his own probably extremely disheveled appearance. At the same time, though, something seemed slightly off about the lone employee. Luhan combed his fingers through his tangled hair. Maybe he was just being paranoid.

Silently, the man shuffled over to an ancient looking payphone and motioned to it. Luhan, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the man’s still-sleepy gaze, took the man’s invitation to use the phone, inserted a few coins into the slot, and dialed Suho’s number. Several rings later, he was greeted by a frantic voice.

“Hello?” asked Suho, sounding stressed.

“Joonmyeon?” Luhan sighed with relief. Finally something was going right. “It’s Luhan.”

“Luhan!” Suho exclaimed with a tone somewhere between elation and extreme irritation. “Where are you guys? What the heck is going on? Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been over here? You can’t just send us cryptic texts and then disappear into the freaking woods and-”

“I know, I know,” Luhan cut him off. “I’m sorry. We ran into some trouble that I can’t really explain right now, but I just wanted to let you know that we’re all mostly safe and we’re on our way back to the hotel.”

“Wait; what do you mean mostly safe? Luhan, what the -”

Suho was interrupted again; this time by the old man in the convenience store, who had started yelling loudly behind Luhan. Luhan spun around to see Xiumin emerge swiftly from behind a rack of magazines as the old man crashed into it, knocking himself to the floor along with the various publications.

“Get out!” the man hissed from among the scattered periodicals. “Get the hell out of here.”

He glared with wild eyes at the two young men, who were both startled by his sudden outburst.

“Luhan, what the hell is going on there?” Suho’s voice crackled over the phone.

“Sorry again, Joonmyeon. I’ve got to go.” Luhan set the phone down on the receiver with a click and rushed over to Xiumin, who was still standing frozen in front of the toppled-over man.

“Leave. Now,” the man reiterated his demand.

“Okay, okay; we’re going,” Luhan reassured him as he dragged Xiumin toward the door. “Please, calm down, Sir. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Don’t. Come. Back,” growled the man with malice rumbling in his throat.

«««

Back outside, Luhan and Xiumin hurried away from the store, confused and frightened.

“Okay. What the heck was that all about?” asked Luhan, breathless. He glanced backwards to see the man still watching them with a frown from the storefront window.

“I don’t know,” Xiumin responded. “This whole place is weird, though. Shape shifters, abandoned houses, crazy old men who get upset when you try to use their payphones.”

“Seriously,” agreed Luhan. “Let’s leave and never come back.”

Halfway across the parking lot, they met up with Chen, followed closely by Lay, who was limping and holding on to a piece of paper.

“Bus schedule,” he explained as he shoved the pamphlet into Luhan’s hand. “Looks like the next one leaves in about twenty minutes, and the stop is a couple blocks down the road.”

“Let’s get going then,” Luhan said as he stuffed the schedule into his back pocket. “Xiumin and I just had a little run in with one of the locals, and suffice to say I feel like we’re not exactly welcome here for whatever reason.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” chuckled Chen, who was already heading in the direction of the bus depot. “I wouldn’t want to stick around even if you told me they were going to throw a parade in our honor. I’m ready for this all to be over and for us to put as much distance between ourselves and that monster as possible. I’m gonna move to freaking Antarctica.”

«««

The bus ride itself was quiet as it took the four men on a winding journey through hills and valleys for several hours. It was a roundabout way to get back to the hotel, but in a way Luhan was thankful for that fact, because it meant he had a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. The bus was almost empty except for a couple of early morning workers, who sat at the front of the bus near the driver. They had all stared a little uneasily at the group of campers when they boarded the bus and headed to the two farthest back rows. Again, Luhan suspected that he and his friends all looked more than a little ragged. After the ordeal they had been through, though, he wondered who could really blame them.

Now, the vehicle was almost uncomfortably silent. It felt odd to be doing something as normal as riding the bus after having just experienced such extraordinary things in the woods for the past couple of nights, and Luhan couldn’t shake the feeling that being completely safe was too good to be true. Tossing fitfully, he opened his eyes to see Xiumin staring out the window, deep in thought.

“Can’t sleep, Lu-ge?” the older man asked without taking his eyes off the passing trees.

“Yeah,” Luhan breathed airily. “My mind is racing, and I can’t seem to get it to stop. You, too, huh?”

Xiumin only nodded in response, and drew his knees up to his chest as he continued to stare blankly out the window. Luhan scooted closer to him to put an arm around his shoulder.

“You really should try to get some rest,” he encouraged Xiumin. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you? You were up keeping watch the entire time.”

Again, Xiumin nodded solemnly, and with a sad smile. He covered Luhan’s comforting hand with his own as he looked up into the younger man’s eyes.

“I can’t sleep,” he sighed. “It’s very burdensome, actually.”

“You’re probably just stressed,” Luhan reassured him. “Try to relax.”

“I can’t seem to nap either,” complained Chen as he turned around to face the other two men.

Lay was sitting beside Chen, and was apparently the only one able to doze off. His breathing remained soft beneath the blood-soaked bandages peeking out from his jacket as Chen propped himself on the back of their shared seat.

“How do you ever sleep again after something so terrifying has happened to you?” Chen continued. His memory flashed to dropping the rock on Kris’ doppleganger and watching as the bruise from a shattered bone appeared on its leg. “We can’t just- It’s not normal to- I mean…” He trailed off as he struggled to find the words to express himself.

“I have no idea how to explain what happened in those woods or what that thing was,” Luhan took over for him, “but, God willing… whatever it was, we’ve left it there.”

“But what do we do now?” pressed Chen. “Aren’t you curious? What if it comes back? And how did it know who Tao was in the first place?”

“I don’t know, Jongdae,” Luhan groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “All I know is that for now, we’re okay. And the important thing is that we focus on getting Lay to a hospital. You, too, if your arm still hurts.”

“It does,” mumbled Chen. He put the back of his hand on Lay’s forehead, which was blanketed by tiny drops of sweat. “And Yixing feels like he’s burning up.”

“Right, so we need to get you two some medical attention,” Luhan repeated. “Let’s just try to make it home. Suho and Kris and the others will be able to help us.”

“At least we’re together,” added Xiumin, giving Luhan’s shoulder a squeeze.