“It’s not your fault, Chen.” Luhan looked over at his sullen friend as they pulled into the same rest stop from earlier that morning.

It was mid afternoon by this point, and luckily the deranged man who had yelled at them earlier was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the entire pavilion looked to be virtually abandoned, aside from the fine mist that settled over the ground and hinted at the likelihood of a storm. Luhan made a mental note of this, and decided that they should find Kris and get out of there as fast as possible, as if they didn’t already have enough motivation.

“I know,” sighed Chen lightly, snapping Luhan out of his thoughts. “I just wish…” He trailed off, not even knowing what to wish for to amend the situation.

“We just need to find Kris, get him to the hospital, and then everything will be okay.” Luhan stopped unbuckling his seatbelt to place a hand on Chen’s shoulder.

“I hope so.”

In the back seat, Kai had fallen asleep and was breathing softly despite the excitement of that morning’s events, and Tao was just stirring from the last stages of his own nap. Sehun was already alert, and was climbing out of the car and opening the trunk before anyone else could so much as get out of their seat.

“We’re doing this as quickly as we can, alright?” Luhan announced once everyone was awake and had gathered their gear. They were standing in a haphazard little semi-circle around the car in an otherwise empty parking lot. “We don’t know where that thing is, what that thing is-”

“Or who that thing is,” interjected Tao in a shaky voice.

“Right. So stay close to me and Chen, and hopefully this will all go smoothly,” Luhan finished, shrugging his pack onto his shoulder.

«««

The men began their march into the woods, traveling down the same path from which two of the five had emerged just that morning. There was a pit of dread firmly planted in Chen’s stomach, and he had the sinking feeling that their mission couldn’t possibly end well. He tried to push these intrusive thoughts away, however, in favor of thinking how nice it would be to be able to locate Kris, meet up with Suho and the others, get his arm patched up, eat some mediocre hospital pudding, and then just crash on one of the couches in the visitors’ lounge for a couple hours.

Before they could get very far into the forest, something buzzed in Luhan’s pocket.

“Probably Suho,” he guessed, pulling his phone out.

In fact, it was D.O. - texting on Suho’s behalf to let the group know that Lay had made it safely to the hospital and was undergoing some tests. Luhan read the message aloud.

“‘Dr. Nam says he’s never seen anything like it.’” Another line was sent shortly after. “‘Says it doesn’t look good.’”

“Well, that’s ominous,” commented Kai as he started to walk again, subtly picking up the pace so that the rest of them were scrambling to keep up.

“At least we’re getting a signal out here.” Luhan tried to be optimistic. “And I actually thought to bring my phone this time, so if we’re lucky we’ll be able to contact the others in case something goes wrong.”

Another text came through, and Luhan once again checked his phone, this time not bothering to stop walking as he did so.

“‘Bite looks infected,’” he read. “Then he says, ‘Lay is acting weird; they had to… strap him down to the bed?’”

“This isn’t good,” fretted Tao. “This is so not good.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” snapped Sehun.

“Oh, God, this is all my fault,” whimpered Chen.

“Okay, everyone stop,” commanded Luhan. His companions all froze in their tracks. “We’re not going to get anything done if you’re all busy freaking out and blaming yourselves.” He glared at Tao and Chen, respectively. “Our job right now is to find Kris, make sure it’s him, and get everyone out of here. If any of you have a problem with that, you can wait in the car.”

Luhan looked around to see if there were any objections, which there weren’t. He wasn’t one to often take complete control of a situation, but when he did he could be intimidating and ornery. Plus, he was the oldest in their little group, so the other members put their trust in him and continued their walk in silence. Before too long, they were back at the odd, beaten-down cabin that they had discovered earlier at the mouth of the path out of the woods.

“Should we check inside there?” wondered Kai aloud.

“No time,” protested Luhan as he looked up at the rapidly graying sky - further proof of a brewing storm. “We were farther into the woods when we ran into Kris, and chances are he’s still there. Chen knocked him out pretty good; even if he woke up, he couldn’t have made it very far.”

Chen shuffled his feet in embarrassment, but bit his tongue, wary of upsetting Luhan again. He and the others once again obeyed the eldest and were turning to venture deeper into the trees when a small, short wail came from behind them.

Tao stopped so abruptly that he almost fell over, barely catching himself seconds before tumbling forward into the leaves.

“Did you guys hear that?” he whispered as he regained his balance.

The others all nodded in shared shock and fear, and slowly turned back around to face the house, which is where they assumed the noise was most likely coming from.

“Maybe this place is worth checking out,” admitted Luhan as he apprehensively tested the first step leading up to the door.

«««

Just as before, the wooden stair creaked heavily, sending a long, drawn-out noise echoing through the small clearing. Even so, it held, and Luhan shifted his full weight onto the step, swinging his other leg up to quickly ascend the stairs. After a short climb, he was standing on the worn down porch and faced by a large blue door. The others were quick to follow him, turing the stairs into a chorus of squeaks and groans as they all scurried up. They all spent a minute just staring at the portal, afraid to actually go in.

“So… do we knock, or what?” asked Kai.

When he got no answer from the other men, he decided to take it upon himself to rap twice on the old wooden door. He stepped back, awaiting a response. Several dozen seconds passed without so much as a peep coming from behind the door.

“Did we maybe just imagine that noise?” Tao suggested.

“No. We all heard it, right?” protested Chen. “I did; I’m certain of it.”

They turned their attention back to the door. This time it was Sehun who gathered up the courage to take a deep breath, step forward, and place his hand on the doorknob.

“What are you doing?!” gasped Luhan.

“Well, if nobody’s home, then we’re going to have to let ourselves in,” he explained. “We’ve got to figure out what that noise was, right?”

Luhan didn’t like the idea, but he knew that the youngest was right so he didn’t say anything else. Taking another steadying breath, Sehun turned the handle.

It twisted surprisingly smoothly, and the boys were shocked when the door slid silently open - in stark contrast to the weathered, squeaky stairs. The blue door fell away into the room to reveal a small interior, made up of only a few rooms. The living room was directly in front of them, and featured a quaint fireplace surrounded by bookshelves, as well as several well preserved couches and chairs. The aesthetic was woodland in theme, and the furniture in the cabin appeared to be made from plain logs stripped of their bark rather than refined wooden planks. The only light came from the multiple windows lining the room, which sent faint patterns of sun scattering across the wooden floor.

Kai brushed past the others, and stepped into the high-ceilinged room. An archway to his right lead to a small kitchen area, and he poked his head in as the others all filed into the living room behind him.

“Hello?” Kai called quietly - barely loud enough for Tao, who was standing next to him - to make out.

“This place is creepy,” complained Sehun, flicking the switch of one of the lamps positioned on an end table. It did nothing, and the light stayed off. “And it has no power. Great.”

“That doesn’t matter; we’re not staying.” Luhan pulled him away by the elbow, moving toward one of the closed doors that probably led to a bedroom. “Let’s find whatever made that noise and get out of here.”

“Hopefully it will be Kris,” added Chen, perking up.

He, Luhan, and Sehun split up to explore the various bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets in the house, leaving Tao and Kai alone in the main living area.

«««

“Who do you suppose this place belongs to?” asked Kai as he absentmindedly pawed at one of the many thick books on the shelves.

“Maybe the people who own the rest stop at the edge of the woods?” suggested Tao, shrugging his shoulders lazily.

“Maybe…”

Kai swatted away a cobweb that was blocking his view of the title printed on the spine of a large, leather-bound volume. As he did so, he accidentally knocked the book onto the floor, making it land with a singular thump as it opened to a random page.

“Yah! Watch it, Kai,” choked Tao. “You scared me half to death.”

“Everything alright over there?” called Luhan, sticking his head out from behind a door.

“Yeah; Kai’s just being clumsy,” Tao responded. “Don’t worry; we’re being careful.”

Luhan grunted and returned to his work. After a moment, Kai bent down to examine the book that had fallen.

“Whoa,” he breathed. “Hyung, come look at this. Weird writing.”

Tao knelt beside his friend to get a better look at the odd symbols covering the torn, yellowed pages. The book looked absolutely ancient, even compared to the old nature guides and trail books that filled the shelves otherwise. Tao couldn’t make any sense of the writing, if that’s what it even was, so he gingerly flipped a few pages forward until he finally landed on a diagram that make him inhale sharply in shock.

“Go get Luhan,” he breathed.