Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jeongin is the first to wake up.

He had closed the curtains the night before, but it was for nothing apparently. The fabric was so thin the light streamed in through the window anyway. Jeongin groans into his pillow before checking his phone, and it's too early to even think about getting up. He even tries to go back to sleep, but can't. The birds are loud here.

He leaves his bed and takes a quick shower, water close to being cold because he could feel the sun’s arms creeping around him. He puts on some fresh clothes and leaves for the living room after putting his stuff away back in his bedroom. Minho and Jisung are still awake, and he can see his friend throwing a blanket over Minho when he sees him.

“G’morning,” Jeongin mumbles.

“Hey, baby.” Jisung watches him as he looks for something to eat in the fridge.

“Vodka. Gin. Whiskey. Red Bull. Gummy bears. The fuck am I supposed to have for breakfast?” He tries opening the second door, but that part is completely empty.

“Uhm- just leave the gummy bears alone. Chris brought them for the party.”

Jeongin takes one of the Red Bull bottles and then shuts both of the doors closed.

“You should go to the cafeteria,” Minho pipes up. He’s usually so quiet, but Jisung either doesn’t mind or it’s different when it’s just the two of them. “Take Minnie with you.”

“Minnie?” Jeongin asks, clearly confused as he pours a glass of the energy drink.

“Yeah,” Minho gives him a little smile. “We know you guys slept together.”

“Oh, wait,” he waves his hands around. “It’s not like that—”

“We know,” Jisung laughs at him. He takes the part of their blanket that is occupying the armchair off of it so Jeongin can sit down on it with his cup. “Why did he sleep there, though? He didn’t mess with my stuff, right?”

Jeongin shakes his head. “Nah, don’t worry. He crashed as soon as he lied down. He was pretty crazy, man. He came in the room, like, hallucinating.” Minho frowns at him. “Saying he saw something bloody, som’ like that,” Innie sips from his cup. “Someone spiked a cup, apparently.”

Minho is open-mouthed. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m gonna kill those kids. Assholes.”

“Yeah. He came in our room thinking it was his, he was like, ‘why are you in my bed?’ and I was like, ‘bro.’” Jeongin clicks his tongue.

“Well,” Jisung shrugs, “all the more reason to take him. He should have some food.”

“I guess. You guys got no sleep yet?” He nods towards them.

“Nah, man. Tryna make the most of it.” Jeongin can see the way Jisung is caressing Minho’s legs over the blanket oh so softly. He smiles. His friend takes his dab pen out of his pocket and offers it to him. “Want any?”

“Sung, it’s like 8AM—” Minho tries to say, but Innie already took it from his hands.

He takes a hit and speaks while it comes out, “Thanks, man.” He takes one more drag and chuckles at the way Minho looks at him, like he's crazy to do that because he just woke up and it's too early. All he can taste is green in his mouth and Jeongin blinks when his eyes catch the sun. As it was in his bedroom, it is also here. The windows in the living room don't have curtains at all, though, they're just little squares of glass and wood crossing them twice, so it's a lot brighter. He sighs when he thinks about going outside and being directly under the sun. “J. I’ll borrow one of your caps, ‘kay?”

“Anything, J,” Jisung nods at him.

“Thanks, bro,” he gets up and walks to the hallway, both arms stretched for his sides so he can touch the walls. the wood feels good under his fingers, they're not rough like real tree bark. He opens the door to their room and crouches by Jisung's bed. “Yo, Seungmin.” He doesn't move. “Yo,” Jeongin tries shaking him by the shoulders a bit, and Seungmin jumps awake in the bed, startled. “Yo, it's me. ‘S all good. We're gonna go to the cafeteria together, yeah? Have some breakfast.”

Seungmin covers his face with both hands. Then, he nods with a deep breath. “Okay, I- I’ll just need a shower.”

“Alright.” Jeongin gets up and rummages through Jisung's bag for a hat. He always has at least two with him, so some seconds after, his hand comes back victorious with a dark brown cap. He puts it on and checks his reflection in his phone's camera while Seungmin gets up and gathers his things for a shower. “I’ll be just out the back door.”

Innie waits for him to nod so he can leave. He crosses the short distance from the hallway to the back door and feels the sun warming his skin up the moment he closes the door behind him.

“Mmm,” he closed his eyes, feeling all of that energy coming towards him. The heat, the sunshines, the sun hugging him. It's not bad, now. God bless for dab pens. Jeongin takes his hat off and lies down on the grass. There's a dumb smile on his face, and the thoughts of ants crawling all over him and biting his flesh are the last things in his mind. He feels like an egg that's cracked on the asphalt in one hot sunny day by someone making a curious little experiment. All spread out and vulnerable.

The dirt is soft under him, comfortable enough to feel like a mattress but still hard enough to be a terrible one. His arms move on the ground and he grabs the grass around him with his hands. It's even hard to breathe with the wholeness he's feeling.

Jisung had described this feeling to him once, and back then Jeongin had just laughed and called him a dumbass stoner. But he knows it's real now. Not real like other feelings like happiness or sadness. It's real like love, like knowing there's more to just this in life. Jisung said it's like feeling you're one with the world. Jeongin feels all of these sensations at once, euphoria, desperation, but it's bigger than that. He can feel the Earth spinning and taking him for a ride, he knows they're it for each other.

There's a commotion — it sounds like something heavy stepped on a twig and snapped it in half. It's far away, but close at the same time, like when you hear something through your headphones and you wonder, did I hear something? Was it part of the song? And you take them off for a few seconds to check. That's how it feels, except Jeongin doesn't take off his metaphorical headphones to check what the sound was. He chose to relish in the feeling instead. It is bigger than whatever sounds the woods are making.

The birds’ chirping, that was so loud when he woke up, starts to die down. From his connection with the world, he can hear them take flight to somewhere else. There's another snap, this time closer to him, that is also muffled by his own ears. Jeongin is melted on the ground. If someone stepped on him, he would probably stick to their shoe like gum.

The back door opens and closes, and Seungmin walks out of it. The hinges creak like old stairways made of wood.

“Are we going?”

“Hmmmmm,” Jeongin answers him. “Help me get up.”

Seungmin walks to him and offers his arms out. The boy clutches them with as much strength as he can gather, which isn't much, but Minnie compensates with his own. Jeongin rubs his face and watches Seungmin crouch down and come back with his (Jisung's) cap.

He had already forgotten about it. “Shit, I forgot that.” He puts it on backwards so his face will receive more of the sun. “Great sun out here. Don't you think? Maybe I should do this more often,” he blabbers.

“Hell no,” Seungmin shakes his head. “I have so many mosquito bites. They feasted on me during the night. And this heat, ugh,” he gestures angrily, “everyone's sweaty. Everyone's sticky.”

“It's nature, man.” He waves a hand to show Seungmin their surroundings. “Parasitic little things. But without them, a bunch of animals would die ‘cause they’d have bo food. Then other animals’d starve to death. Then others. Then us. So, gotta be grateful for mosquitoes. God, I’m so fucking hungry. Are you really hungry, too?”

“Sure,” Seungmin tells him, looking at him weirdly. What is wrong with him? “Normal hungry.”

Their time in the cafeteria passes with Seungmin reading a book that Jeongin hadn't even noticed him bringing and Jeongin eating extremely slowly with his head down.

Jinnie wakes up with the sudden breeze that enters their bedroom even from a tiny opening in the window. She stretches her limbs and yawns while doing so, curving her back and feeling the thin little hairs on her arms standing up.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Chris mutters, voice hoarse with sleep. She loves his morning voice.

“Oh, hi,” she cuddles closer to her boyfriend. Chris is always so warm. “It's so cold in here.”

“Mm, nah,” Chris lightly shakes his head. “It's never cold when you're around.”

Jinnie snorts. “You're dumb.”

He partially hides his smile from her by facing the ceiling, just until he gets it under control. He looks back at her. “Why did you wake up so early?”

“It's chilly in here,” she shrugs. “And you?”

“I dunno, just did” he puts some distance between them so he can stretch himself with a groan. “Wanna go to the lake?”

“What, now?!” Jinnie looks at her phone. It's about 9AM. She turns it around to show Christopher.

He shrugs. “Yeah, I mean, we're already awake anyway.” Chris sits up with his back to her and rolls his shoulders a few times. The defined muscles in his back start moving — it's mesmerizing, Jinnie thinks. He catches her staring and smiles. “Let's grab a bite first, though.”

“Mm,” Jinnie buries her head in the pillow, ready to sleep for at least the next five hours.

“Come on,” Chris walks to her side of the bed and simply picks her up. She giggles and so does he, carrying her to the bathroom so they can shower together. Of course, kisses and hickeys and teasing ensue, but they're not in a hurry to do anything.

On their way to leave the cabin, they see Minho And Jisung completely passed out on the couch. They're lying on different sides, with their legs around each other's chest, like they fell asleep looking at each other.

“Jisung,” Chris chuckles, “he's quick.”

After a balanced breakfast (Chris wanted to fill his stomach, but since they are going to swim, Jinnie insisted that they shouldn't eat much, otherwise they could get sick), their stroll to the lake is easy — for Jinnie, who demands to be carried all the way there so she won't tire her legs. The pier isn't full because it's still early and most of the other students definitely slept late. There's just a few of them here, swimming laps and coming back to rest.

They find a little spot and put their things down. Since both of them are sensitive to the sun, Chris takes the sunscreen she brought out of their bag and pops the cap open. He makes sure to spread it well all over her back, almost massaging her from the way she kept humming, but makes a stronger line in the middle of it, drawing a C big enough that other people can see it from afar.

He laughs and takes a picture to show it to her. She smiles with pursed lips and a fun gleam in her eye. “Turn around,” she tells him, planning on doing the same — which, of course, Chris wants. She works the sunscreen on his back, shoulders and down his arms, finally drawing a big H on him after. “There.”

They put their sunglasses on and lie under the sun on the towels they brought, waiting to be tanned so the letters would actually stand out. The pier slowly starts to become more crowded.

A few hours later, Changbin wakes up with the annoying music of Felixia’s alarm. She wakes up right away, groaning and leaning over the bed to get her bag from the floor. Bin watches her take out her birth control pills and swallow one dry, putting the bag back on the floor and lying back down right after. “Sorry,” she mumbles.

Changbin is about to answer and tell her she should change the time of her pill or lower the volume on the alarm, but his own phone starts ringing. It’s his dad calling. “Shit.” He picks up. “Good morning,” he closes his eyes. He already knows what's coming. “Yeah, no, I didn't forget. Yes. Okay, I will. Alright. Bye.”

Lixia tilts her head. “What is it?”

“My dad.”

“What's up with your dad?”

“He told me to go hiking,” Changbin sighs deeply.

“Oh, good luck,” she tells him with a quick look outside. “It's so sunny out there.”

“What, you think you're not coming with?” Changbin looks at her.

“Well, he told you to go,” she says with her Duh voice.

“Lixia,” Bin starts. “We've been through this a thousand times already. You know how they feel about you. You know that you gotta play nice with them. How many times have I told you that?”

Lixia rolls her eyes. “I’m already rich, Bin. I dunno what else they want from me.”

“They want a nice girl, Lixia. Nice. And respectable. Of course, they want money too, but you know.” Changbin gets up and grabs a towel from his backpack. “You can't be one of those, like, socialites that only embarrass themselves in the media,” He says it with a tone of sadness, like he's tired of replicating the same speech he hears from his parents every time Felixia goes over to their house.

“Yeah. I know.”

“We’ll just take a short one, take some pics for them, and then we're done, okay?” She just nods at him.

Felixia stays in bed, watching TikToks on her phone, until the shower suddenly stops running. She then gets up and takes her toiletry bag and the clothes she separated to the bathroom for a quick shower.

When they leave, she's in a bad mood. She hates dressing sporty, always has. Changbin is dressed how he's always dressed, shorts and a fitted tee or tank top. The sun is really hot and she forgot to take sunscreen with her, but they soon get on the shortest possible trail they find on the map and it gets better — the tall trees protect them from the worst of the sun. The heat is still there, though, presenting itself with a coat of sweat on their bodies.

“This is actually kinda nice, isn't it?” Changbin asks her, looking around.

“Mm-mm,” she shakes her head, lips downturned. “I feel sick.”

Bin puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry, we're almost there. I think.”

As they pass a couple of squirrels who run away from them when they're seen, Felixia takes a ziploc baggie from her bag.

“What the hell’d you bring coke for?” Changbin asks when he sees the white powder in the plastic. “I already brought some for the party. Where’d you even buy that?”

“Oh my gosh, Binnie,” she rolls her eyes. “It's not coke. It's salt.” Felixia licks a finger and then sticks it in the salt, rubbing it so when she removes it, the tip is covered in salt. She sticks it in her mouth. “She repeats the process. “So I won't pass out. How much did you bring?”

“Just enough for us. Don't share it with anyone else,” he tells her under his breath, and she nods. “Let's take those pics now, yeah?”

They take some selfies in a hug after complaining about how sweaty the other is, and then take some of each other. Lixia doesn't even curve her back so her ass will stand out because she knows Binnie would complain. She does her best to replicate the poses that the clean girls she follows on Instagram use, with her arms open and peace signs.

Changbin loves it. “These look really good, Lixia,” he says as he sends them to his dad. “Thanks, my lil’ actress.”

She giggles with the compliment. “Thanks.”

A few more minutes and they're finished with the hike, which means now they can eat. The trail they took didn't get them any closer to the cafeteria, and so they have to walk even more, this time under the sun.

“Here, baby,” Changbin takes his shirt off and gives it to Lixia. She thanks him with a mumble and uses it to cover her head and shoulders, now more protected from the sun. She already got all the tan she wanted the day before.

The cafeteria couldn't possibly be more crowded. Since it's lunchtime, everyone is awake and hungry, like hungover zombies in line, picking whatever things they think will make it better.

As they enter the line, Lixia's phone chimes with the notification sound she set specifically for Jinnie.

jin ❣️

heey you awake??

wya

you

cafeteria wbu

jin ❣️

get your food and bring it to the pier

get some for chris and i too

he wants ham sandwiches

“Jinnie’s telling us to get food for them and eat at the pier,” Lixia tells Bin and gets a nod in response.

They get sandwiches for everybody, just changing Lixia’s to chicken and salad instead of just ham. By the time they reach the pier, it's also extremely crowded, but Chris saved a spot for them where they can lay down their things and sit down as well.

Christopher doesn't even wait for Bin to sit down. “Yo, Bin, let's have a race. From there,” he points to the neon floats that limit the lake on the right, “to there,” he points to the ones on the left. They are really far from each other, but they're athletes — they could use the cardio.

“Bet. You know I’ll win.” Changbin takes his shirt off again (he put it on when they got to the cafeteria because it's not allowed — but sure, go ahead and do drugs right under our noses!) and puts it in his bag.

“Pfft,” Chris waves at him, “look at the size of you.”

“Shut your mouth,” Bin tackles him in his middle and pushes him into the lake, laughing. Chris comes back coughing.

“You bitch! I’ll fucking get you, get in here!” He splashes water on Bin, but it also hits Lixia and Jinnie, who scream with their hands up.

“Ugh, Chriiis!” Jinnie whines. “I told you I don't want this water on me!”

“Just get in already, Bin,” Lixia taps his leg from where she's sitting.

Changbin chuckles and jumps in the water scarily close to Chris, who has to swim away.because otherwise he might be hurt.

They swim slowly to the edge of the lake, which isn't actually the edge, they're just not supposed to go over the floats because, they don't know, maybe there's a bear there, too. Since it's far from the pier and it's a quiet place, there's a couple that is clearly having sex, and they stop moving and cough when the two friends make themselves known with laughs and whistles.

“Alright,” Chris says. “On three. One, two-” Changbin starts kicking his legs before he's finished counting. “You son of a b-” Chris starts swimming as well, as quickly as he can. He just hopes they won't crash during the race, like if they swim too close to each other and one of them ends up getting an elbow to the nape — that's pretty deadly.

Meanwhile, Jinnie and Lixia wait for them to get close enough so they can watch.

“Did you see Paris’ new music video?” Jinnie asks, still lying on her back because the C hadn't really stood out when she asked Chris to check.

“Oh my gosh, yeah,” Lixia fixes her hair, getting the blond locks under control. She twists it and throws it over her shoulder. “So emotional, like, raw, you know?”

“Really shed a light on her as a person, not just a celebrity, you kno? Poor girl,” Jinnie pouts.

“That reminds me- Oh, there they are,” she points a finger and Jinnie turns.

The guys are getting closer to the floats on the left. It's hard to tell who's who, but there's a small difference between the two. After a few seconds, the difference is the same and one of them emerges victorious. It's Christopher, and he takes a moment to look around and when he notices Changbin hasn't arrived, he throws a fist in the air.

Changbin touches one of the floats with a hand and raises his head out of the water. “Ah, fuck,” he grunts at Chris’ expression of mirth.

“Don't cry, baby Binnie,” he has the audacity to pinch Bin’s cheek. Of course, he has to run — or, well, swim away as fast as possible, because if there's one thing Changbin absolutely hates is when someone treats him like he's tiny. It's why he works so hard on his diet and the gym.

They reach the pier and Chris gets on it first. He takes his towel that has been sitting under the sun for the past minutes and dries himself off with it, enjoying the warmth it gives his body after the cold-ish lake water.

Bin raises himself up and sits on the pier, as well. Him and Lixia didn't take any towels with them for their hike, so he borrows Christopher’s after he's done using it.

“Congrats, baby!” Jinnie squeals and gets up just to pop a kiss on his lips. Chris envelops her waist with his arms, deepening it, smudging the sunscreen on her back in the process.

Changbin looks at Lixia. “I think he cheated.”

She genuinely gasps and proceeds to whisper, “On Jinnie?!”

“At the race, Lixia, the fuck!” Changbin whispers back. “He’d never do that.”

“Oh, I’d kill him. I’d smash his little head,” she unclenches her fists. Bin chuckles — her hands are so small, she wouldn't be able to do anything. “How would he cheat, Bin? It's okay, you got second place,” she shrugs.

He stares at her. “Yeah, in a race with two contestants.”

“I’m being positive and optimistic!” She rolls her eyes.

Their friends stop kissing after Jinnie subtly removes Chris’ hand from her ass. “You wanna know how I won, Bin?”

“Cheating?” His friend looks up.

Chris’ smile grows in the same way a snake would approach its prey. “Nah. It's ‘cause I got an extra leg to help, ya know.” He bursts laughing.

Bin looks back at Lixia with his eyes closed. “You're such a fucking idiot,” he laughs with the others.

They all sit down and start eating their sandwiches. Bin had remembered to bring cans of Coke for the couple (and Coke Zero’s for him and his girlfriend), and they thank him profusely. They're not so cold now, but they'll do.

Their lunch goes by quickly, except for Lixia, who drags it out for as long as she can. She ends up leaving half of her sandwich to Binnie, who gladly eats it. He didn't bring his protein shakes because he wouldn't have a way to work out at the camp, but he still doesn't want to have his calorie intake fall too much for these two days.

“Jinnie, come swim with me?” She asks when Chris and Bin get back in the water.

Jinnie looks disgusted. “Sorry, Lixia, but the water’s probably so dirty, like… Ew.”

She chuckles. “Alright, then.”

Felixia takes off her crop top and gets in the lake in lace panties and a sports bra. She was not about to walk all the way to the cabin and back just to get a bikini.

The water isn't cold, it's just a shock at first since her body is so warm thanks to their yellow dwarf. It's also a relief from the heat. She swims closer to Changbin and wraps her legs around his middle.

He smiles at her touch, her eyes, her smile. He smiles at the way she instinctively fixes her posture when Bin stops kicking his legs and they start to sink. “I love you,” he mutters in her ear. She answers him with a bite on his cheek.

“Jinnie,” Chris whines. “You can't leave me all alone here with these perverts! They'll stain the lake with cum!”

Hyunjin laughs loudly. Changbin slowly detaches Lixia from himself. “Fine,” he splashes water on Christopher. “I’ll go take a piss, anyway.”

“Oh, at least you won't do it in here,” he jokes — Changbin would never get down to that level, none of them would.

Changbin gets back on the pier and walks away. Chris and Lixia hang from it with their arms, swinging their legs and talking to Jinnie about the cabins.

“And Jackson’s is for six people, so no one needs to sleep in bunk beds. I mean, poor Jisung, he wants to fuck Minho but there's no bed,” Jinnie laughs.

“Poor Innie, too,” Lixia pouts.

“Why?” Chris asks. “Anyone he's tryna get with that I don't know?”

“I dunno, I just think he deserves a big bed. I dunno, he's like, so babyish.” She giggles. “Just wanna take care of him.”

“Yeah, I mean, when I was his age I think I was a little more—” He can't finish it. He disappears.

Christopher is pulled underwater, gone. Just like that. With the sudden scare, Lixia lets her arms go and falls back into the lake. She comes back to the surface and Chris is still not there and Jinnie is standing up, arms crossed in worry.

They start calling his name like he would hear them, and he's not coming back, there's just movement for some solid time, enough for Jinnie to decide she needs to do something. In desperation, she jumps in the lake as well and swims down, and now Lixia can't see her either. Panic is taking over her body, she doesn't know what to do, whether she should call for Changbin or someone random, the lifeguards are gone, on their lunch break maybe, maybe she should swim down and help in any way she can—

Jinnie comes back up.

Two more people join her right after — Christopher and Changbin.

The guys are laughing, playfully punching each other, wrestling in the water.

Jinnie looks pissed. She gets on the pier again and scrubs her lilac towel on herself angrily, like she's trying to remove the first layer of her skin. Her hair is completely wet as well, and she rubs the fabric on it as hard as she can, biting her lower lip. Neither Changbin nor Chris notice her distress.

Lixia can't even move at first. Her legs keep her up on autopilot, but it takes some time until she takes action and goes after her friend.

“It's okay, Jinnie,” she rubs her shoulders, “don't be harsh.”

“It's just that- I thought he was dying or something, like really dying and it didn't make sense because he's a great swimmer but he disappeared and I got worried so I had to jump in and- and this water is so disgusting—” She keeps drying herself off, voice frantic and anxious.

“Shh. It's fine, the water's fine.” Lixia holds her head with gentle hands. “It's just water.”

Jinnie breathes in shakily and nods.

“Lixia, why are you wearing panties?” Changbin yells from below.

She leans over the edge to tell him, “If you don't like it, there's two options. Either I swim naked or you go get my bikinis.”

Changbin frowns and goes back to where Christopher is.

“Bro, how'd you even do that? I saw you walk away,” Chris tilts his head with curiosity.

“I went back in and swimmed to you guys, duh.”

“You bitch, don't pull that shit again. Scared the hell out of everyone.”

Jisung tries to blink his eyes open, but they're too dry. He rubs them to spread the moisture and then he can finally open them. His body is heavy and it feels like he's going to need to stay in this very couch for about five years.

There's less natural light in the room than when he went to sleep, which means it's getting late, around nighttime. He can see Minho sitting on one of the armchairs, but he'd dragged it closer to a window to smoke with a view.

“Hey,” his hoarse voice cracks. He clears his throat and tries again. “Hey.”

Minho turns to him with an almost imperceptible smile. “Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

Jisung hums. “What can I say? Weed makes me sleep like a baby, plus you, so.” Minho nods and turns back to the window. “What's up?”

“Ah, just,” he shakes his head, “just woke up with this weird feeling. Like something's off.”

“Don't worry,” he tries to reassure him, but it's not too effective because he's still glued to the couch and can barely speak. “We're gonna stuff our bellies with… I dunno, hotdogs, probably, and then party all night.”

“Party?” Minho glances at him. There's smoke coming out of his nose.

“Yeah, at Jackson's. You're coming, right?” Jisung yawns.

Minho doesn't want to ruin the setting by explaining to Jisung how those parties aren't his scene because they're filled with the same people that look at him like he's a freak simply for walking in the same hallway as them, so he settles for, “I’ll think about it.”

Anyway, what Jisung said sort of calms his feelings. That's all they're going to do: eat, sleep, and go home the next day.

“What time's it?” Jisung asks.

“It's almost 8. You should get ready for dinner.”

“Sure, yeah,” and with a big groan he sits up. “You’ll meet me there?”

Minho didn't expect for Jisung to still want to be with him after this morning, but he shrugs. “Sure.” He nods and gets up to leave for his bedroom. “Oh, by the way, Jeongin and Seung came back a while ago. They're sleeping together again, just to warn you.”

“Alright, I’ll be quiet,” he whispers loudly.

After a few moments, Minho can hear the shower turn on. He keeps smoking until he sees Jisung leave through the front door, all perfumed and nice clothes. The shower turns on again, which means that someone woke up when Jisung entered the room. He stays on his phone until it’s time for him to shower, and finds out it was Jeongin that woke up first, because he’s ready and leaving through the front door already. Phone in hands, probably texting his friend to find him. The shower goes on again. Seungmin, then.

When he gets out of the shower, Minho asks him to wait for him to get ready too. Seungmin agrees, he’s not in a hurry since he just woke up and the hunger hasn’t really hit him yet. Minho gets ready as fast as he can, which ends up taking a bit of time since the way he does his eyeliner is messy, but not accidentally — it’s messy on purpose, and even after years of doing it, he still has trouble with it sometimes.

Seungmin is patiently scrolling through Twitter when Minho gets out of the bathroom. “Twitter, huh. You don’t really strike me as a social media guy.”

“I’m not. It’s just dumb ani-twitter discourse,” he brushes it off and gets up.

“Oh, been there.”

They walk out of their cabin together and end up meeting the couples on their way, and it’s obvious they’ve been at the lake, or at least sunbathing somewhere else. Changbin and Lixia are tanned, but Jinnie and Chris look like they were roasted over a campfire, their skin pink. It will probably burn for a few days.

“Hey, guys, is Sung there?” Chris asks them.

“He and Innie left for dinner already,” Minho answers with a finger pointing to the general direction of the picnic tables that surround part of the lake. Chris nods and they all keep going to their respective destinations.

The first thing on Minho’s mind when he gets to the tables is to confront the people Seungmin was with the previous night. They’re sitting at a different one, thankfully, because the last thing he wants is to sit with people he doesn’t like. He calmly walks to them and Seungmin follows him, unknowing.

“Hey, guys,” he greets them with an overly cheery voice. “Can someone please tell me why the fuck Seungmin came back hallucinating this morning?”

Seungmin’s mouth drops open.

“What are you talking about?” Claire frowns at him.

“I’m talking about how you spiked a cup and didn’t even fucking tell him,” he waves a hand in Seungmin’s general direction.

“We didn’t, though,” a random boy says. “We just drank a lotta vodka.”

“Yeah, we’d never do that, are you crazy, Minho? You know that that’s really toxic. It’s even a trigger for Opal,” Claire points at one of their friends. They lower their head.

Minho crosses his arms. “Fine. But if I find out that even one of you put something in that cup, I swear to God, I’ll delete everyone’s roleplay servers on Discord.” He turns back and walks away after the gasps.

“What was that?” Seungmin mutters beside him.

“I dunno, but it’d be embarrassing to just say ‘fine’ and walk away,” he chuckles. “I have to keep the respect on my name.”

Minho is still suspicious, because Seungmin’s face when he got in was no joke. He can sort of remember it clearly, but his mind distorts a part of it.

“Maybe they’re telling the truth, you know,” his voice is low. “But then what did I see?”

“What did you see?” Minho turns to him.

Suddenly his face shows a flash of the same expression that worried Minho so badly when he saw it. Seungmin tries to speak, but he stutters. “It was- I looked like—”

“Look, guys! It's my favorite emo!” Jisung's voice cuts through the ambient sound of chatter. He comes to Minho and lays a hand on his shoulder like they're bros.

“Fuck’s wrong with you?” Minho whisper-yells to him.

Jisung's expression falters. “Sorry, I got silly. We passed my pen around.” After a beat, he starts laughing. “Passed my pen around.”

“Hey, you,” someone pokes Jeongin on the shoulder. He turns around, and it's Katie. “Where’s Anna?”

Jeongin frowns. “She still hasn't turned up?”

“Don't fucking lie. Where is she?” Katie raises her tone of voice, which makes people at the table — he and Jisung were sitting with the crew at Jackson's house until Minho got there — look at them weirdly. He gets up and puts some distance between them.

“Katie. What the fuck. I told you she said she was gonna go to the bathroom. I saw her going in. And then I left, I should've waited, I know! But she told me not to! So I left!” He gestures with his arms, desperate to make her believe him. “I’d never do anything bad to her. Talk to the counselors about this.”

She groans and storms off. Jeongin swears out loud and walks to where Jisung is sitting with Minho and Seungmin, and some people he doesn't know. He sits beside Jisung and eventually calms down after listening to them talk and even chiming in a few times. He grabs a hot dog from the tray that sits on the middle of the table and stuffs his mouth with it.

A ringing sound reaches them through the speakers. Everyone winces with how loud it is, but it's gone before it gets too bad. The sound that comes next is like someone tapping on a microphone, and indeed it is, their principal, checking to see if it's working when it very clearly is.

“Good evening,” he greets from the pier. “Just a warning: the buses will leave at 10 AM. If you're not in your respective,” he emphasizes, “buses by then, you’ll stay here at Stray Camp and be picked by your parents or legal tutor. 10 AM,” he finishes. No one says anything, it's just silent, until he passes the microphone to Charli.

“Hello again, everyone!” her voice echoes through the speakers. “So, how was today for y’all?” The students cheer, now pretty much everyone, since this day was more productive than the other. “I’m so thankful. Unfortunately, I am here to say goodbye,” she pouts and some aw’s are heard in unison. “I know, I know. Now, I want to truly thank you for these past two days- you're the best school that's been through here,” she chuckles. That causes people to laugh as well, feeling that sense of pride bloom in their chest. Who doesn't like to hear that they were the best at something? “Okay, I’ll leave you guys alone, but I need you to do something for me first.” Charli holds out her pinky finger, “Please promise me that you will make this night one of the best nights of your life so far!” Her sentence gets louder as she approaches the end of it, and everyone's waving their pinkies up to the sky — even Minho, forced by Jisung. “Alright, everyone, thank you so much! I love you!”

After about an hour, dinner officially ends — which simply means that they stop distributing sodas and hotdogs. A lot of students still stay there since they can.

On the other side, when Jackson gets up, his whole table follows, along with some others.

“So, you're coming, right?” Jisung turns to Minho. He's a bit more sober now.

Minho’s face turns into a sheepish frown. “Ehh…”

“Nonono,” he shakes his head. “It'll be fun!”

“It’ll be crowded”, he corrects him.

Jisung rolls his eyes.”Yeah, I can't say it won't. But… Fun!...?”

Minho replicates the eye rolling. “Fine,” his tone cuts. He lowers his voice. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Yippee!” Jisung's voice goes extremely high, but eventually comes back to normal. “Alright.” Jeongin and Jisung walk away with their hands on each other's shoulders, in a side hug.

Minho turns to Seungmin. “So, you thinking of staying back at the cabin?”

He purses his lips. “It's what I’d rather do, obviously, but...” His shoulders seem to get even smaller.

“But it's safer to go?” Seungmin looks at him. “Yeah, that's good. Just don't drink from anyone's cup, dude. Maybe there wasn't anything weird yesterday, but today it’ll probably be everywhere. So make your own cups and keep an eye on them.”

He nods quickly. “Yeah- yeah, okay.”

A steady line of people follow the way to Jackson’s (and his friends’) cabin. On the way, Jisung keeps worriedly asking if Jeongin is okay since he looks like he's in the suckiest mood to ever strike him.

“It's fine, man,” he tells him. “I just feel a little off.”

“Shit, you're not the only one.”

“Wait, you too?” Jeongin hopefully asks.

“Nah, nah. Minho was paranoid earlier. Y’all are freaking me out, that shit’s getting to me.”

Jeongin purses his lips. “Yeah, sorry. Don't worry about it, J. It's just- this place is fucking weird, man.”

“Camps usually are, dude. It's just your first time. You’ll be fine,” he pats his shoulder. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, there's something I didn't tell you.” Jisung frowns at him like he could be seriously hurt depending on what it is. “Anna hasn't shown up since yesterday.”

Jisung heaves out an exaggerated sigh. “Oof. I'm telling you, J, don't worry about that. She might have slept over at some other cabin, wasn't in the mood to have dinner… who knows? It could be a million things before anything bad. Now let's get this party started, okay?”

Innie sighs. He doesn't really buy it, but the party will surely be more pleasant for him if he distracts himself. He shakes his head to release some of the built up tension. “Right.”

Jackson and his main crew decided to split their party into two twin, neighbor cabins because there's simply way too many people for a single one. Jeongin and Jisung quickly make their cups with ice cold vodka and happily drink from them as they jump into a conversation (with their other friends in the school’s high society) in the kitchen.

The party gets more exciting with time. They arrange a customary beer pong game, because it’s not a Jackson Wang party without it, and Jisung is the first to volunteer. He points at Minho every. single. time. he scores — he even kisses his own biceps once —, and the elite students (in terms of popularity) slowly warm up to the nerds’ presence in the same environment as them. He and Jeongin destroy the two randos, who walk away from the table on stumbling legs.

Their next opponents are Changbin and Christopher, who they know are invincible. They've been in the ‘industry’ for long enough to kill any pair of dumbasses that try to take their crown. They exchange a secret handshake with multiple steps and the match starts. Jeongin and Sung are already looking at their cups in disgust and dread, knowing what's coming.

Minho laughs when it's Jisung's turn to walk away with wobbly legs. He's so drunk, but he can dance half decently to the music playing loudly.

“Go, go, go… It's your birthday,” his hips are loose as he twirls, holding the crotch on his jorts. “We gon’ party like… You know we don't give a fuck… 50 Cent. Legend,” he yells so Minho can hear him.

He nods, “Oh, sure.”

“You're too sober, Minho darling,” Jisung caresses his face with his fingers.

“I’m taking it slow,” Minho corrects him again. “It's way too early to get shitfaced like you are.”

“Bullshit, bullshit,” he shakes his head. “Here.” Jisung pats around his various pockets until he finds what he wants. He hands Minho his dab pen like it's a crown jewel. Minho rolls his eyes but takes it from his hands anyway, hitting it once and blowing the smoke out of the window he's standing by. “You do that so much, you know.”

“What?”

Jisung exaggeratedly rolls his eyes while he points at them. Minho automatically rolls his own, and, “See!” Minho takes another hit and purposefully blows the smoke all over Jisung’s face, who very comically tries to inhale as much as he can from it. “Nice,” he croaks out.

“You are so incredibly dumb. And stupid.” Minho shakes his head.

“You looove it.”

Jeongin shakes his head at Jisung going to Minho and sits down on an armchair to try and stay calm. He still isn't too used to being drunk, feeling a faint numbing sensation in his face. It's like having a bad trip — if he thinks too hard, he’s sure he's having a seizure. His body is so slow and stupid but he's still completely awake and that messes with his head.

He decides to check his phone and distract himself from his distraction. Both of his brothers texted him not too long ago; his older just told him to be safe, while his younger was asking for money he could use on Roblox. Jeongin answered them, saying ‘of course, big bro, ily’ and ‘ask ur other hyung’ respectively. His Instagram isn’t too busy, so he posts a story of himself vaping — he leaves it for his close friends, obviously.

He can see Jinnie and Lixia recording a TikTok in the kitchen, probably a fit check from the way they're twirling and showing off their glittery matching dresses. Both look almost exactly the same, the only difference is the color. Purple and pink, respectively. Their signature colors. Their video is stormed by their boyfriends; Bin hugs Felixia by the side and Chris slowly wraps his arms around Jinnie from the back. It's cute, it's spontaneous, it's perfect. The girls squeal and post the video anywhere they can.

Then, Christopher does something that Jeongin wouldn't expect him to. He moves to help Seungmin, who has been staring into the open fridge for a while.

“What's up, Seung boy?” He lays a heavy hand on his shoulder. Seungmin looks at him like he's about to apologize, but Chris continues talking. “You wanna drink?”

“Y-eah,” he stutters. “Make a cup,” and it sounds like he's ordering Chris to make a cup for him, and ohmygod he should die.

“That's alright, I’ll give you a hand,” he nods understandingly. ”Depends on what you wanna drink.”

Seungmin gulps. “Vodka?”

Chris nods again and leans down to get the bottle. “Oh, lucky, it's icy.” He grabs the Red Bull with it and puts it all on the counter. “Get that cup over there.” Seungmin hands it to him and he opens the vodka as he explains. “So what you wanna do is throw a couple shots in there. Or more, or less, it really depends on how you're feeling, but the more you pour the more sucky it's gonna taste. I’ll do an average, here,” he pours some of the alcohol in the cup, fills about a fourth of it. “Then you just complete it with Red Bull, and add some molly, LSD, stuff like that. Last part's optional,” he laughs and hands him the finished cup.

Seungmin stares at it for some time until Chris shakes his hand with the cup to get his attention. Seung takes the cup, then. “Thanks.” Chris gives him a nod.

After the fiasco with the emo kids, he doesn't have a group or a person to stay with, because Minho is busy hiding his smiles from Jisung. He notices Jeongin alone, resting against the backrest of a very comfortable looking armchair by the way he looks so relaxed, legs spread and one of his hands on his lap. Seungmin hesitates before sitting on the armchair beside his.

“They're inseparable, now,” he points out with a nod towards Minho and Jisung. Jeongin snaps his head up like he's surprised with the voice and even more with the fact that it's directed towards him.

*Yeah,” he drags out, “but it's good. For Sung, at least.”

“What do you mean?” Seungmin tilts his head.

“Sung's not romantic like that, man,” he waves a finger from side to side. “He's respectful and charismatic, so a lotta people think he's in love when really he's just looking to fuck.” Jeongin laughs with a shake of his head — there are some great stories there. “But, that ‘my favorite emo’ shit? Pfft,” he waves at the air.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen Minho like that with anyone, either,” Seungmin sips from his cup. “Never seen him with anyone, actually, now that I think about it. Plus, they're so different from each other!”

Jeongin points at Seungmin like he made the hottest take ever. The finger then points to the subject of their conversation, “And maybe that's why they're like that.”

Somehow, during the short time of their exchange, Jisung had found his own seat on Minho’s thighs, with an arm thrown around his neck. Minho sees the two of them looking and chuckles. Jisung, in turn, sees him looking, and whips his head around. His smile grows and he promptly gets up to walk in their direction.

“You jealous you don't got a lover, Innie?” He pinches his friend’s cheek. “Don't worry, sweet baby, here.”

Jisung pulls Seungmin out of his chair and manhandles him onto Jeongin’s lap, but he does so carefully so that the cup won't spill.

“Jisung, what are you even d—”

“Nonono,” his pointer finger gets close enough to Jeongin’s lips that he stops talking. “Now don't lie. I know things.”

“You dunno shit, J, you’re just drunk and high and annoying,” Innie tells him as mostly a joke, but his hands rest on Seungmin's waist.

“I know everything, look at your little smile,” he laughs. Jeongin lowers his head. “Besides, it's good to experiment, dude. Oh, bro,” he laughs even harder, “Seungmin, you're pink!”

“The lights are pink!” He gestures to the ceiling. It's true — Jackson's situationship is obsessed with colorful lighting. It made his last parties a lot better.

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving now,” he raises his hands in surrender. “But remember. God's watching.” Jisung turns away and gets back to Minho like a dog starved of attention.

Minho shakes his head when he sees Seungmin awkwardly getting up and sitting beside Jeongin again. Jisung straddles him again and purposefully, through puckered lips, blows an entire drag of his vape on his face. “I’m gonna barf on you.”

Still in the kitchen, it's now Changbin's turn to pull out a ziploc baggie from a pocket when some other random guests leave the little home they made there. He stealthily approaches the little circle Jinnie, Lixia and Chris are in and sticks his hand in the middle, shaking the plastic.

Lixia is the first to react. Her eyebrows jump and her eyes sparkle — figuratively and literally: she has purple glitter on her eyes to also match with Jinnie, who did the same thing but with pink — as she claps her hands.

“Oooh,” Jinnie’s smile grows slowly.

Chris takes it from his hand and pinches the bag, feeling it. His face looks somber, and he puts a hand on Bin’s shoulder. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Changbin and Jinnie laugh, the first slaps Chris’ hand from his shoulder. Lixia tilts her head in confusion and jealousy, but shrugs it off when Chris laughs along with them.

Her boyfriend leads them to the bathroom, where thankfully there is no line (no one is that drunk yet — except, maybe, for Jisung and Jeongin). Chris closes the door after him when everyone is inside and rubs his hands together.

“I think there’s enough just for a line each, ‘kay?” Changbin tells them as he opens the bag and oh so carefully shakes it so the powder will fall on the back of his hand. He straightens the line with the baggie itself and then passes it to Chris, who starts to do the same. Felixia does the sign of the cross (she does it every time) before she leans down and, with one of her nostrils pressed shut, she snorts the whole line quickly. It's better that way.

She gets up and throws her head back a bit, trying to soothe the slight burn in her nose. She rubs it softly and cleans it up of any mess in the mirror.

“Lixia,” Chris calls for her, offering the bag. Jinnie’s also rubbing her nose.

Felixia pours a line on her hand for her boyfriend and gives the bag to Jinnie. Changbin’s lips brush her hand as he snorts the coke and she smiles, feeling butterflies.

“There's a little left,” Jinnie shakes the baggie in front of them.

“Oh, Chris and I’ll split it. We’re bigger, anyway,” Changbin smiles.

Jinnie nods and pours some for Chris, who pecks her hand with his lips after he's done. She pours the rest on Lixia's hand and it's just a little bump that Changbin finishes in a second.

The four of them check their noses in the mirror before leaving the bathroom, and when they open the door, Jisung is standing right in front of them with a knowing smirk on his face.

“Getting your noses powdered, I see?” He bounces his eyebrows. He looks like he's out of his mind.

Christopher laughs loudly. “Ah, man, you wanted some?”

“Nah, bro, course not,” he shakes his head. “Tryna stay off the synthetics, y'know.”

“Coke is made from a plant,” Lixia nods with wide eyes.

“I guess,” Jisung shrugs. “C’mon, I need to piss.”

When Jinnie leaves the bathroom with her hand in Christopher’s, she's already feeling euphoric. Maybe it didn't hit yet, but just the excitement is enough to make her feel like it did. “Oh, my God,” she says, fanning her face in emotion, “I love this song!”

“It is,” Chris chuckles at her. “I put it in the playlist.”

“Ugh, I love you so m-! Oh, look, Minho’s there, I’ll- I’ll find you later!” She shortly kisses him and skips to where Minho's dancing, close to the wall. “Hey! You like them, too?”

Minho tilts his head. “Yeah? You don't look like you like them,” he smiles.

“I know,” she’s yelling since the music is so loud, but shrugs. “But you should have seen me at thirteen!”

They laugh and scream out the lyrics together while Chris fondly watches her from where he's leaning against the kitchen counter. Jackson’s talking to him about something, but he can't really pay attention.

Felixia sits on the beer pong table since no one is using it. Changbin comes and stands between her legs, his thumbs slowly drawing small circles on her thighs. He's nuzzling her neck and can hear the essence turning into vapor when she takes a puff of her vape. Bin waits for her to exhale to breathe in all of the smoke, which tastes like her — she loves strawberry scented anything.

Jeongin rests his back on a wall and turns his eyes away from the couple. He's holding Seungmin's cup and drinks from it as he offers his own vape (he made sure to charge it before he went back to sleep earlier) to him.

Seungmin takes it and inspects it closely. He doesn't want to ask anything so as to not embarrass himself, but Jeongin notices.

“Just pretend it's a straw. And then when you stop, inhale.” He keeps drinking, even though he's already drunk. But the cup is in his hand, so he just does. He turns his head to Seungmin to see him try his vape, obviously for the first time.

He shyly wraps his lips around the tip and sucks on it like he would with a straw. He doesn't know when he should stop, so he keeps going until he runs out of breath. When Seung takes the device out of his mouth, some of the smoke escapes but he tries to make up for it by breathing in quickly.

Somehow, it catches in his throat and makes him gag. The coughing starts instantly and Jeongin smiles, patting his back to calm him down and telling him to breathe through his nose. Seungmin stubbornly smokes until he can do it without bursting into a coughing fit, which makes him extremely dizzy. He grabs Jeongin’s arm for support when he realizes and Innie helps him with a chuckle. Seung rests his head on the other’s shoulder while he gathers himself.

Jisung comes out of the bathroom with both hands in his hair, clearly looking out of this world, eyes heavy. Maybe he should've asked Chris for a bump, but it's probably not a good idea with all of the alcohol in his system, anyway. He sees the scene in the corner and looks suggestively at Jeongin, biting his lip just to see him roll his eyes — but he's still smiling.

He walks to where Minho is apparently — dancing?! At a Jackson Wang party? It blows his mind. As he gets closer, he notices he's dancing with someone else. And, okay, it's not like Jisung hasn't been clearly showing his intentions lately, go ahead and dance with someone else, fine, that doesn't make me feel like there's a knife twisting my insides at all. But it's Jinnie, he realizes when he notices the purple dress. The knife disappears.

“‘Sup, girl J, how ‘bout you go back to your own man?” Jisung fixes the cap on his head.

She laughs with a hand over her mouth and lightly slaps his shoulder. The song is ending, and Jisung witnesses these two opposites that are still very similar to each other, apparently, singing the last line in unison.

Jinnie cheers, but a different song starts. “Alright, he's all yours,” she tells Sung and blows a heart to them as she excitedly runs back to her boyfriend.

“Minho Lee. With Jinnie Hwang?” He tilts his head.

Minho shrugs, “She's actually pretty cool.”

“They all are! Look at those two,” he points to Seungmin, who's already smoking again.

“Oh, no. Just lost a brother,” Minho pouts when he sees the vape in his friend's hand. Jisung notices his sarcasm and laughs.

Changbin slips out from his home between Lixia’s legs and walks to Christopher. He puts a hand on his shoulder and leans forward to reach his ear, telling him something. Chris has a big smile on his face like he already knew they were going to leave the party at some point. Meanwhile, Felixia waves goodbye to Jinnie and winks at her so she knows what’s happening. Bin comes back to her and they leave the cabin together.

“Oh, thank God it’s hot,” she fans herself. Changbin nods and takes off the t-shirt he’s wearing, throwing it over his shoulder. “Can you carry me, Binnie? I don’t wanna walk on these,” she looks down at her heels.

“Sure,” he nods and swiftly picks her up, which makes her giggle. He adjusts Lixia in his arms and starts a brisk jog back towards the lake, the main pier, more specifically. She holds on tight to his neck.

When they reach the pier, Changbin finishes taking off the rest of his clothes in a haste. He’s clearly feeling hot, the low lights around the camp highlight the sweat running from his hair to his chest. Felixia is more careful. She takes a moment to look at her surroundings, looking for any people that might still be there. Even if there is anyone around, they probably wouldn’t do anything to stop them, anyway. “Binnie, is it cold?” She asks in the process of slipping off her heels, dress and panties. Lixia even makes an effort of putting her hair up by itself, since she didn’t bring any hair ties along.

Changbin slowly dips a foot in the water and shakes it around. He shrugs. “It’s normal.”

Felixia nods and squeals when Changbin jumps in, splashing water on her. He’s right, the water isn’t too cold. He swims back up and waves at her to come in, so she sits at the edge of the pier and gently edges herself forward until she falls into Bin’s arms. She gasps with the sudden change in temperature, but it’s a relief to finally get away from the constant heat. Together, they swim away from the pier, just a bit further. When they stop, she wraps her legs around him again and stares at his eyes, both of their pupils big and shiny because of the moonlit dark lake water.

With firm arms, Changbin kisses Lixia like she’s the most fragile crystal in the world — carefully and tightly. She feels secure in his hold, like she will never fall nor be squished. Changbin has tact. His hands tangle in her hair, almost dismantling the bun she made, but neither of them care right now. He slowly licks into her mouth and she takes it as a gift, as a present she’s been craving for years. She’s pliant — how could she not be?

Bin’s legs kick the water firmly to keep them both up, but he’s not any distracted by it. The hand that isn’t in messing his girlfriend’s hair up starts to go down her body and stops by one of her tits. He holds it and brushes his palm against her nipple, making Lixia gasp amidst the kiss. Changbin smiles and lightly tugs on her lower lip with his teeth. He knows exactly what makes her tic. His hand continues its path, never breaking contact with her skin. He brings it to her back and tightly squeezes her ass. Her nails dig into his shoulders and he grunts, dropping his hand from her ass and taking it to her cunt, circling her clit with his thumb. Felixia bucks her hips forward with the sudden stimulation. She grips his hair and his fingers twitch with the pain, causing her to whimper back to him.

Reluctantly, she relaxes her body and lets it sink a little more so she can reach his broad chest. Lixia bites him with the purpose of leaving a mark there so everyone can see it. His hand keeps working on her and she accidentally bites a little too hard. He hisses and she chuckles momentarily, kissing over the bruise as an apology. Her own hands leave his shoulders and pinch his nipples briefly, making him arch his back and gasp. She looks him in the eye as she stretches her arm out to wrap his dick with a warm hand, but she can’t.

Felixia suddenly sinks down. She doesn’t know whether Binnie stopped treading or what, but when she comes back to question him, he’s not there. She notices the pain on her legs — he sank down so quickly that he didn’t even have any time to drop her. Her heart starts to beat faster as she whispers, “What the…”

There aren’t any fish in here that could pull someone down like that, and would Christopher go through the trouble of leaving the party and coming all the way here to get his revenge? Then, she can feel some waves coming from under her, and swims back so Changbin won’t hit her when he eventually reaches the surface, and he does.

But it’s not him. No, not really.

It’s not her Bin.

Changbin’s eyes are bloodshot. They’re wide with- with terror, with words that Felixia can’t conjure but are portrayed clear as day in his expression.

There’s a knife in his throat, she realizes. The blood isn’t squirting out of the hole because the knife is still in there. There’s a consistent stream of his blood that runs down his neck and is diluted in the water. He’s wheezing, desperately trying to say something to her with hands clutching her small shoulders. His voice is barely there, it’s hoarse and scared and she can’t move when he tells her, “Run.” He coughs with the effort and blood splatters her face. She blinks in shock and Changbin wails in pain. “Run, baby—”

He’s pulled underwater again.

The way his voice sounded would haunt her ears forever. If there is a forever for her.

For hot seconds, there’s something stuck in Felixia’s throat. Like she swallowed an ice cube on accident and it stopped halfway to her stomach, stuck on her esophagus. It’s the purest anguish of not knowing what to do, to drink water and shove it down or agonize to death. The choice seems obvious, and it is, but her body can’t move. Survival instinct keeps her above the water, but she’s stuck there. Stuck like the ice cube, oh, it’s coming up her throat, it’s harshly making its way out of her chest. It’s a scream. It’s a cry for help, it’s a wail, it’s the highest shriek that has ever come out of her.

It brings her back. She throws her body back and runs, or, well, swims away from the scene as fast as she can, desperately kicking her legs and hitting the water with her arms, to the pier, to people, to salvation. Her whole body is twitching with fear and anxiety when she remembers she swims faster with her stomach down. The only rest her vocal chords get is when she needs to stop screaming to breathe, but goes right back to it when she can. Apparently, there aren’t any people close, but it’s not like she can see perfectly well with her blurry sight.

She finally reaches the pier and feels hope that she’ll make it out of this. Felixia puts her hands on the platform, trying to lift herself, and she’s so heavy, she realizes. The thought makes her feel like there’s kilos worth of ice cubes in her stomach. Even after all of her efforts, she’s so heavy that she can’t lift her own weight. Her nails claw into the wood with anger and grief, she tries to gather her strength on her arms, tries to pull it from her boyfriend and severs her vocal cords with another glass shattering scream. Lixia manages to throw herself forward and crawl on the wood, ignoring the splinters under her nails and in her hands. She stands up with quivering legs and runs with wide steps, one, two, three- Then no more.

It comes from the back. She could never have dodged it. It cuts her quickly; it enters her body even faster and finds its exit between her breasts. Felixia whimpers, shaking her head in denial. Her hands grip the spear that is stained with blood, her blood, and it is surreal. With a hand, she tries to cover the hole in her chest, feeling her skin torn around the wound, and with the other she tugs on the wood, trying to get it out of her, because what the fuck, there's a fucking spear through her torso, and it burns, it hurts so badly she removes her hands from it right away.

Lixia cries out (with dry eyes since her body is in shock and isn't worried at all with tears) and falls to her knees. The impact sends blood up her throat. She gags on it, coughing, feeling her lungs contracting around the spear, painting her breasts with blood drops. There's no more voice to cry out. She can feel her breath slipping away from her, and it gets even worse with the coughing, which triggers more and more pain and blood every time. All she can do is grip the wooden stick in front of her and pray, pray that she lives through this somehow, that Binnie will come back and hold her and save her from the end.

Felixia starts slumping backwards. It goes slowly, just like the life leaving her body. When the back of the spear reaches the wooden boards of the pier, it pushes through her even further since her weight is still pressing it down.

At some point, she can't cough anymore.

Her mouth is filled with blood when she dies.

Back at Jackson's cabin, Jinnie danced with other girls that she isn't too sure she can call friends. Christopher, Jeongin and Jisung are on the couch with some other guys, passing a small glass bong around. Chris doesn't hit it, he's still high off of that coke, but Jisung is acting like he found the love of his life right here and now. Jeongin is simply scrolling through Instagram, lips glued to his vape like a baby to a sippy cup.

“So everyone here agrees that Kendrick has the best diss track ever with Not Like Us, right?” BamBam asks.

“Look at bro forgetting Hit ‘Em Up,” Jisung shakes his head.

“But c’mon, Sung,” Bam pokes him with his elbow. “‘Tryna strike a chord and it's prolly A minooooorrr.’ Like,” he doesn't finish.

“Sure, yeah, but Tupac went crazy on his track. He starts with saying he fucked Biggie’s girl, man. Like, twice,” Jisung laughs.

“That's true, but I think y’all sleep on Meet the Grahams, anyway,” Chris shrugs. “Bro talked to his whole family, called him a pedophile in his mom’s face.”

“Bro. Tupac. Shakur,” Jisung states. His friends nod with serious expressions. “Yeah. ‘Fuck you and yo motherfuckin’ mama.’”

Bam continues talking about something else about rap beefs, but Jisung gets bored and turns to Jeongin. He’s watching a life hack reels, and Jisung wants to die. “J. J.” He calls, but Innie doesn't answer him. He taps on the video twice, making a white heart pop up on his screen. “J. J. J.” Jeongin turns to him and the video starts playing again. “J.”

“What,” he says after taking his vape out of his mouth.

“Jaaaaaay,” Sung whines. “You're so quiet. What is it?” Someone on the other couch yells at Jisung to ‘pass the fucking bong already, man’, so he leans forward and hands it to the guy with a frown.

“I’m just bored, man,” he groans, frustrated. “Y’all are like, yapyapyap, I can't keep up!”

“‘Yapyapyap…’” Jisung giggles and pinches both of his cheeks. “You’resocute,” he says through gritted teeth. “You know, you’ll get really sleepy if you stay like this. You wanna take a breath outside?”

Jeongin puffs his cheeks. “I guess.” He slaps his hands on his legs and gets up.

“You want me to come with?” Jisung looks up.

“Nah, it's fine. Bong’s almost on you, anyway,” he nods towards BamBam. Jisung almost moans.

“Yooo, Jeong-In-Nie,” Chris gestures to him with finger guns. “You going outside?”

“Yeah?” Innie is smiling — Chris never used that three syllable thing on him before.

“Man, please,” he puts his hands together in prayer, “get my bag for me? It's in the back of the twin.”

“No problem, bro,” Jeongin nods. “It's the blue one, right?”

“That's the one,” Chris smiles and passes the bong straight to Jisung, who disgustingly kisses it even though a bunch of other dudes are using it. Said dudes on the other couch groan when they see it and know he's going to keep it for a good ten minutes and probably come up with an excuse to hold it for longer, like ‘the water needs a change’ or ‘I developed an emotional connection with this smoking device aka water pipe and you can't take it away from me or I’ll throw myself on the floor and kick and cry and die’.

“I’ll be right back,” Innie leaves.

Jeongin leaves through the back door and surprisingly finds Minho there, outside. He's leaning against the wall and smoking as he looks ahead, to the woods. They're dark.

His eyebrows do a little jump when he sees him. “Innie boy!”

Innie shows him a small smile. “People keep calling me that. Like, making my name cute.”

“Weeell…” Minho chuckles with a shrug.

“Alright, okay- Alright. Jisung is cheating on you with Bam’s bong. He's had too much already.”

“I’ll go inside in just a bit,” Minho shows him his cigarette. It's almost fully smoked.

Jeongin nods and starts walking to the other cabin. It's just a few meters away from Jackson’s, they're only separated by a big, old looking oak tree that he notices when he looks to the side. There's a birdhouse on the most prominent branch, but no birds currently residing there.

The back of the twin is empty. He can see that most people are either in the living room or in line for the bathroom. Jeongin himself has been needing to take a piss, so he adds it to his little mental to-do list. He finds Chris’ backpack on the lonely armchair of this second living room in the back. He slings it over his shoulder and opens the door again.

There's something different in the air now. A short gust of wind brushes past the trees, making the leaves rustle together, but there's some else, another sound. It sounds like growling, a heavy breath coming from deep within. It makes all of the hair on Jeongin's arms stand up and he brushes them down, trying to warm them up.

He shakes it off and starts walking back to Jackson's, but there's movement behind him and before he can look back or, or run, something heavy hits the back of his head. It's blunt, so it doesn't cut, but the impact hurts so bad that he falls down. He's dizzy, he can't speak, his brain stops working properly. His tongue lolls out and touches the grass.

Chris' bag isn't on his shoulder anymore.

Whoever hit him picks him up, and he's kind of expecting an apology, a ‘sorry that I almost killed you, bro’, but he's just thrown over this huge person’s shoulder. “Whatthefuck,” he slurs out. “Putmedown.”

When he breathes, he smells their clothes, and it makes him gag. The person smells rotten, like they should have been buried too long ago. Like their body shouldn't be able to stand up and move. And yet there is so much strength to this… thing, is what he thinks, when it throws him against the oak tree he had noticed on his way there.

He hits his head again and it's throbbing, it's too hot and there's something wet running down his back. He’s fucked, he realizes quietly. The looming figure stands before him. It stares him down, calmly, like he knows Jeongin has no coming salvation. Like his life lies in its hands and only in its hands.

It is more of a he, really, huge legs and thick arms glued onto broad shoulders. His skin looks rotten, it certainly smells so — he’s breathing through his mouth so he won't have to feel it anymore. His clothes are stained with dirt and blood and something clicks in Jeongin's brain: he's going to die.

The air leaves his lungs at once. He whips his head to the side and screams for Minho, for him to come and help, for him to get Jisung. But he's not there anymore. He must have finished his cigarette and went back into the cabin, he realizes with a dull pain on the back of his head. It doesn't keep him from screaming for help, even though he knows that the music is incredibly loud and no one will ever hear him, no one will ever come to him, he's going to die alone and screaming.

The man, the monster?, grabs his ax menacingly. “Want me to beg?” Jeongin tries saying. His body can't function properly, probably because of his wound. He can't work his tongue to enunciate the words correctly. “You motherfucker, please, please don't fucking kill me, you bitch, you fucking,” the monster starts lifting the tool. “No,” Innie cries out. “No, please, please, don't—”

He can't hear the sound of his skull cracking in the middle. The blade gets to his brain faster than it could've processed it.

Minho plops himself down and occupies the spot Jeongin left vacant.

“So,” he throws his arm around Jisung's shoulders. “Innie tells me you’ve had enough of this,” and takes the bong from his hands.

Jisung pouts, but nods. “Fine. Here,” he lights the weed up so Minho can take a hit of it and when he does, he passes the bong along with the lighter to the other couch. Jisung places his warm hand on Minho's thigh that is the closest to him and feels him breathing the smoke out on his cheek. “You were smoking, weren't you?”

“Yeah,” Minho looks at him.

“Knew it. You smell like it,” he burrows into Minho's neck and breathes his scent in.

He laughs, trying not to squirm away from the touch. “I thought you said it's the stinkiest thing in the world?”

“Not on you,” his voice is low, almost hoarse.

Minho swallows dryly with yesterday's memories. “Hey, stop that, you're gonna fall asleep.” He shrugs his shoulders, making Jisung’s head bounce.

“I know,” he whines, but doesn't move. Minho lets him stay there for a bit longer, until some songs pass and Chris asks them about Jeongin.

“Last I saw him, he was going to the other cabin,” Minho answers him.

“Yeah, he went there to get my bag, but,” he shrugs.

Jisung sleepily takes his head away from Minho. “I’ll find him,” he croaks out and yawns. Usually, on a trip, he's much more active, loud and annoying. Maybe it's Minho that makes him feel so relaxed. He turns to him, “Help me get up?”

Minho smiles and stands up. He takes Jisung's stretched out arms and supports his body as they walk to the bathroom and wait in line. There's booing behind them when both of them enter the bathroom together, and Jisung laughs.

He goes straight for the sink, looking himself in the mirror with wide eyes. “I’m so gone, aren't I. Where did I go?” He tugs on his face.

“You're right here,” Minho opens the sink and wets his hands. He puts one on Jisung’s forehead and the other on his nape, trying to wake him up and bring him back before he loses himself. Minho cups his hands under the running water. “Here, drink some.”

Jisung leans down and the water runs down his chin and neck when he drinks. He ends up drinking a lot, funnily resembling a dog. “Ah, I need to piss,” he fixes his posture and goes to the toilet. Minho nods and stands for him by the door. Jisung does a double take when he realizes he isn't leaving and pulls his pants down just enough. A few seconds go by of silence, of Sung clearly concentrating with a frown and closed eyes, but nothing happens. And it's not like Minho is staring at him, but he eventually sighs, “I can't do it with you here.”

Minho laughs. “Didn't think you’d be shy.”

“I’m not, I’m not shy, I know you sucked my dick yesterday, but this is different, like, it's totally different.”

“Fine, fine,” Minho opens the door and waits for him outside.

When he comes out, he looks a little better, a little more awake. He apparently washed his face, too. “Back, baby. You know, you look so good.”

“Yeah?” Minho still helps him walk even though it's not so critical anymore.

“Mm-hm, so nice.”

They slowly walk to the back door and leave the cabin. Both take a second to breathe in air that doesn't smell like weed, to relish in the sudden escape from the loud music. Their ears aren't used to it, they need a few seconds to adjust. Minho looks around, “He doesn't seem to be here.”

Jisung crosses his arms. “He mentioned earlier that some friends of his are over there,” he nods to the twin cabin. “So he's probably chilling, but I should make sure he's okay.”

“Well, fine, then.”

Both start the short walk to the other cabin and open its back door. “Huh, Chris’ bag’s here,” Jisung points.

“Did he not make it here, or…?”

Worried looking, Jisung pulls out his phone and taps to call one of the few favorite contacts he has. He walks out of the cabin so he can hear it ring. “It's ringi—”

Something vibrates near them. Then again. And again. Again. Jisung turns around and his phone falls to the ground with a thud. Minho brings a hand to cover his mouth.

It's Jeongin. It's him, no doubt. His phone’s screen is shining through his pocket, vibrating with Jisung's ongoing call. It's him. Is it? No, it can't be. Sure, those are his clothes, but they're too bloody, and that's- that's Jisung's hat on his head, but it's torn in the middle, just like his- his- He can't say it, even in his head.

The ax is still there. It looks so heavy, Jisung thinks. Jeongin had just started to work out. But it's still there.

“Oh-” Minho mutters. It's the type of situation where there are no words to describe it, it's a child with an ax that split his head in the middle. They can't see bone or brains, at least, but it doesn't really stop Jisung from doubling over with failing lungs. “Jisung,” Minho kneels in front of him to cover the sight.

He tries to speak, but all the air going in isn't coming out, it's stuck, his throat is closed. In a haste, he takes his phone from the ground and hits the red button multiple times. The buzzing stops and he winces. He clutches it to his chest, saliva catches in his throat and he's gagging, coughing, he can see a beetle land on Jeongin's half forehead over Minho's shoulder and oh, no, Jeongin hates beetles, is terrified of them, and Jisung turns to the side and throws up.

Minho has wide eyes and a hand on his back at all times, and he doesn't know what to fucking do, except to hold him until it's over. He vomits all of the alcohol he drank, which makes a big puddle that smells like acid in front of them. Jisung heaves when he's done. Minho needs to do something. He picks Jisung up and off the ground and drags him away from the smell, the sight, from the noise in his ears.

“What are you doing,” his voice is hoarse. “We- can't leave him alone, I-”

“I’ll take you somewhere safe, okay, I’ll- I’ll tell Seungmin and—” Minho pulls his phone out of his hoodie’s pocket and texts Seungmin.

you

jeongin dead tell teahcrs

murdereaR OUT THSRE

SRSLU

It's fucking horrible and he knows, but he needs to fucking believe him, Minho can only hope he will. He needs to tell the others, Jisung’s friends, but it's easy to know that absolutely no one would believe it if Jisung texted something like that. Especially with how high he still is. So he takes Jisung's phone (Minho doesn't have the couples’ numbers) and it's still open on his favorite contacts. His mom, Jeongin, Chris and Changbin. Changbin isn’t at the party- he tries Christopher. It rings a couple of times, but then a robotic voice tells him that no signal is available. Minho looks at the screen and yes, it's wavering, getting even worse as they walk.

“He's not picking up?” Jisung pipes up. He looks pale even in the dark.

“Don't worry, okay? As long as they're in the party, they're safe,” he squeezes his shoulder. “We’ll go to our cabin and you’ll sober up. Just don't think about anyth—”

“I can't stop seeing him.”

Minho just sighs and just hugs him closer.

He locks everything he possibly can when they enter their cabin. Doors and windows. He carefully helps Jisung into the bathroom and opens the faucet. He's about to rub Jisung's face with the cold water, but he stops him. “Can you just leave me alone for a little?” Minho stutters. He's afraid to leave him and to be alone, but if it's what he wants. “Leave the door open and- and don't leave me here?”

Minho nods and hopes the sincerity he feels is showing on his face. He leaves the bathroom and waits outside. Now that he doesn't need to worry about Jisung immediately, he can stop and think about what the fuck they're going to do. He checks his phone and Seungmin read his messages, but hasn't replied yet. Minho walks around the main living room and wonders where they can go, because the cabin is just too vulnerable — the walls are thin, the doors look like they'll fall right out if the wind hits them just a little bit too hard. Windows are made of glass, and that says enough.

The buses will only be there in the morning, and that's a few hours from now. If Seungmin warns the teachers and counselors, they should have a plan, right? But he still hasn't answered — Minho checks his phone every few seconds even though he knows that if he gets anything it'll buzz. It's dark outside and there isn't much to see, just the multiple paths and most lead to the lake, the others to trails in the woods and that's the last place they should be in. Minho recalls the mangled animals Seungmin saw and this fucking killer, maybe the guy Charli talked about, fucking killed a fucking bear. And axed Jeongin’s head.

Then, he sees it. Above the treeline, standing not-so-tall and proud, the water tower of the camp. It doesn't look old at all, but it was clearly made to look so, with the little space around the tank that they can definitely stay at for now. Besides, they can see anything coming from it. Decidedly, Minho rummages through the kitchen cabinets and only finds two flashlights and a map, but those are everywhere, so.

Jisung still hasn't come out, so Minho knocks on the bathroom door to check if he's okay. He anxiously waits for an answer, but nothing comes, and he gets more nervous by the second. He checks his phone again. Nothing. “Sung, are you okay? I mean-” Nothing as well. “I’ll come in, okay?”

He waits a few seconds so he won't catch Jisung at a bad time, but his waiting didn't change anything. Jisung is on the toilet, but he's fully dressed. He has his head in his hands, they're gripping his hair tightly, and he's letting out a stream of whispers. Minho gets closer.

“...not J, no, it’s J, he wouldn't leave, not J, he's okay, J’sfinehe’stotallyfine.”

Minho touches his shoulder calmly but Jisung is startled and shuts himself further. He tries his best to speak with a soothing voice. “Sung, we need to get going now. We’ll go to a safe place, okay? It's alright,” he whispers close to his head.

Jisung slowly unwraps himself. He breathes in deeply while Minho tries to keep his patience under control — he just feels too worried, like the main door is about to be cut in the middle like— “Can you get me the lemon gum in my bag?” Jisung says with a weak voice.

He gets a nod from Minho. “Sure, but you’ll come with me. No more being alone. Are you more sober now?”

“I’m tripping,” he shakes his head and gets up slowly. Minho purses his lips but guides them to the bedrooms.

He gets both of their bags and the flashlights, and by the time they leave the cabin through the back, Jisung has about three gums in his mouth, and he's chewing and frowning at the acid taste.

Minho’s phone vibrates.

He takes it out of his hoodie's pocket as fast as humanly possible.

Seungmin's heart skips a beat when he reads Minho’s texts. Jackson's cabin is too crowded, so he runs outside through the back which is where he saw Minho and Jisung go through. He doesn't find anything at first, looking for them around the place. He gets closer to the oak tree and turns on his phone’s flashlight to see if they're hiding anywhere under it. But there's nobody there, just a beetle on the trunk and…

Red stains on the lower part of the trunk?

It's still wet, Seungmin realizes when he touches it. It smells like iron and not tomato. He shivers and wipes his hand on his jeans. His heart accelerates quickly with the thought that someone, someone he just met and, and was starting to like, just. He hopes Minho is simply playing a prank on him.

But he can't risk it.

Seungmin runs to the closest map to see what path he should take to the teachers' cabins and then to the counselors’ quarters after. He starts with a quick pace and almost trips a good few times. It's so incredibly quiet here, everyone is either at the party or already went to sleep.

It's a bit of a long walk to that side of the camp, but he reaches it in just a few minutes with how fast he walks. Seungmin knocks frantically on the door for a few seconds, waiting for someone to open it for him. But nothing happens. He knocks again, this time louder, stronger, it's annoying even to his own ears, but this is bigger. “Hello?!” He yells through it. Nothing again.

Maybe the teachers went to a party of their own, but would they do such a thing? Such an irresponsible act? Their principal never commented on anything.

Seungmin anxiously slams on the door — looking behind him every few knocks because he needs to make sure that he is safe — but no one comes to him. To be sure they're not here, he opens it.

Inside, it looks normal. Two sofas, two armchairs, a coat hanger, the kitchen and the hallway. The coats are still hung, and to him, that's an obvious sign that they are here. No one should leave without a coat during summer, knowing how it can get rainy.

It's dead silent, and it remains so as he walks further into the wooden house. Sometimes the floorboards creak, but he keeps going until he reaches the bedroom doors — since this cabin proves to have the same planning as the students’.

It feels crazy to do this, but then again, Seungmin has called the teachers for far less.

He knocks on the first door, but if the way no one answered him when he was outside can tell him anything, is that they won't hear him here. Maybe there's a fan on, or some type of white noise that is canceling the others. So he twists the knob and slowly pushes the door open, all the while thinking, 'Please don't be naked, please don't be naked, please don't be…'

Seungmin flicks the light switch on, and not only the lamp doesn't go on, the light from the living room goes off as well. Great. But by the way all of the cabins seem to have the same planning, he takes the mental image of his own room as a guide and stumbles forward until his legs hit something. Seungmin lowers his hands and touch sheets, oh thank God, he thinks, and shakes the body lying there awake by the legs. Nothing happens again, and he's so tired of this, just wake up already, what the F did you take—

The lamp on the ceiling flickers back to life.

In a blink, Seungmin has his hands to himself again. Red again, everywhere, on every bed, on everyone. He can recognize his teachers, Mr. Moore and Mr. Wilson, cut up like cattle.

Seungmin, in a haste, opens all of the remaining doors and without fail finds at least one body in every single room — even the bathroom, where it had been the most violent since Mr. Williams was definitely awake as he brushed his teeth.

His stomach has been turning ever since he got Minho’s texts, and now to know it's true, to see it with his own eyes- he feels sick. He can see blood anywhere he looks, and the living room in the back is the worst, because that's probably Ms. Miller judging by the red color of her hair, because where is her face, ohmygod where's her face. He doesn't know what to do, what to feel, he just remembers to text Minho so he’ll know. With shaky fingers, he types.

you

All dead will check soud elrogs

Xousnelors

Counselors

He's leaning against one of the hallway’s walls as he composes himself, slowing his breathing and trying his best to rationally think, because to be honest, he just wants to find a bed with no corpses on it and hide under it until someone saves him. But he can't. He needs to run to the counselors' quarters, because even though they might have been gruesomely killed already, there's a chance they haven't.

Glass shatters somewhere in the cabin. Seungmin's back arches and is as tense as the strings of a violin while his eyes scan the room closest to him for a weapon, literally anything that he can use. He ends up with a lampshade in his hands, which are tight around the handle since he's sweating and can't let it slip away.

The sound came from the main living room, where there are no bodies, thank God. He crosses the hallway in silent steps, blood pumping so fast that he can hear his ears pulsing, and peeps over the corner to see what happened. One of the windows is broken, and as he looks to the floor where the glass is shattered everywhere, he finds the cause.

A bird.

Just a bird. A pretty big one, as it would have to be to break a window. It's twitching, slightly bloody since it probably got cut up by the shards when it came flying in. Seungmin sighs with the most sensational relief he's ever felt in his life and drops the lampshade to the floor. The adrenaline slowly fades and he raises his hands to his chest, trying to make his heart slow down.

Seungmin shakes his head. He needs to get the F away from this place. He decidedly walks to the main door and opens it again, even though he doesn't remember closing it. Big mistake.

It's Jeongin, but it's not Jeongin. It's him, roughly thrown on the ground, but his head, it's… Seungmin steps backwards slowly, his legs are starting to weaken, he needs to run away, he needs to, he’ll go through the back, but then his back hits something. It's warm in a gross, sticky way, it's big and it smells bad, and he doesn't want to turn around.

Seungmin jumps forward to run, he’ll jump over Innie if he has to, he’ll do anything, but the something tugs him back by the hood of his hoodie, and he can't. He just can't. Helpless, he tries his best to escape the grip, but it's frustratingly impossible. He cries out and wiggles himself out of the hoodie but the something kicks him down.

He flips to his back and sees it, this monstrosity of a man, or something else. It loomingly leans down, covering Seungmin's view with just gory flesh. It looks infected, or burnt, or rotting, he doesn't know, it just looks like it can fall of at any second. It cradles his face with its hands and if its skin looks gross, then it feels even grosser. It sticks to him like cheap slime, and its thumbs slowly cover Seungmin’s eyes.

“No,” he shakes his head and fights the thing’s arms away, tries to, anyway. It's like a rock. “No, no, no, n—” Its thumbs press down. His eyes hurt. Down, down, stronger, down. His eyes hurt. They're being smashed like bugs, and all Seungmin can do is scream as loud and brokenly as he can as he feels something hot running down his face. It reaches his open mouth, and Seungmin can taste his own blood. He spits it out, he wants to throw up, but the thing's fingers are inside his head and they're wiggling further, deeper with every second until his body convulses. The screams leave him.

So does the pain.

When the lights go out all of a sudden, Chris remembers that Jeongin still hasn't brought him his bag. He asked for it because his very special gummies are in there, and the people want them, but they all ended up forgetting about it after some time. It'd be nice to surprise them, though.

He kisses Jinnie and heads out of the cabin through the main door so he can hang out at the twin for a little bit, seeing some friends from his team and a couple of exes that he steers away from. Chris does, eventually, find his bag in the second living room, sitting by the door, and it's a bit dirty. He frowns and cleans what he can from it before taking it back to Jackson's.

He takes the gummies from his backpack on the way, so that when he gets back to his little circle shaking the baggie, everyone celebrates. Jackson swears and thanks the skies, Bam almost kisses him — only doesn't because Jinnie tightly holds his face away from her boyfriend.

Chris opens the ziploc and takes one of the green bears for himself. He passes it around. Jinnie also grabs one, while the other two get two each.

“You're too weak, Christopher,” Jackson shakes his head.

“I’m tryna enjoy this party, not pass out on the couch,” Chris chews the gummy up. It tastes like lemon and grass.

His phone suddenly starts vibrating. He wiggles it out of the tight denim of his shorts and sees it's Jisung. Chris touches the green button.

“Christopher?” He hears as soon as he picks up. And that is not Jisung's voice, he can tell even through the loud music.

“Uhh—”

“It's me, Minho, listen, someone's—”

“What?” Chris interrupts. He tries covering an ear to understand Minho, but it doesn't work. Jinnie looks at him worriedly. “Can't hear you.”

“Chris, there is someone out ther—”

Chris huffs. “Hold on, I’ll go outside.” He leaves through the front door again and closes it behind him so the music is muffled. “‘Kay, tell me.”

“Fuck’s sake, someone's killin—”

Beep, beep beep.

“Ah, fuck.”

His phone is dead.

Chris shrugs and goes back to his circle with a laugh on his face. He drinks from Jinnie's cup. “Minho called from Sung’s phone,” he tells her with bouncing eyebrows. “He sounded crazy as fuck.”

She smiles. “What’d he say?”

“That someone's skiing or something?” Chris snorts. “Definitely Bin and Felix on some snow.”

Jinnie also laughs, but rolls her eyes. “Right, Changbin always carries extra. Why would Minho call you to say that, though?”

“I dunno, but they're probably having the time of their lives right now. D’you think they're still at the lake?”

“I don't doubt it,” she shrugs. “You know how they love to make their own party, every time. But I’ll text Lixia to see if they're okay, anyway,” Jinnie takes her phone.

Chris nods. “Sure.”

Now with the gummies’ boost, Chris and Jinnie drink more and dance as much as they can — which means Chris basically stood up for almost the whole time as she danced around him.

The party ends earlier than usual since it's close to sunrise and they should get at least some sleep before going back home. Jackson announces it by turning all of the speakers off and standing up on the kitchen’s wooden counter, which looks dangerously close to breaking.

“It's over people, move along, move along,” he makes big gestures with his arms. People groan in unison, but Jinnie is kind of glad. She's feeling hungover and her feet are tired and hurting from the heels, so she takes them off.

“Here, I’ll carry you,” Chris lovingly says as they're finally leaving the cabin.

“No, no,” she waves a finger, “I wanna feel the ground.” Jinnie steps out of the rocky path and digs her toes on the dirt.

“You're the grossest,” Chris smiles.

They walk together, hand in hand. At a crossroads of sorts (if they go left, they get to their cabin, if they go right, they reach the lake), Jinnie wonders if they should check on Lixia and Bin out loud, because she hasn't answered her yet.

Chris acts like he's grossed out. “Ew, no, Bin’s gonna be naked.”

“You see him naked, like, everyday,” she scoffs.

“Yeah, but you don't need to,” he laughs along with her. “Besides, it's early for them. Bin and Lixia? You know them, they’ll only leave when Mr. Williams catches ‘em.”

Jinnie tilts her head and leads them into the left path. “Yeah, I guess.”

After walking on the dirt for a few minutes, Jinnie goes straight for the shower to scrub her feet clean. Chris plugs his phone in the charger in their bedroom and texts Bin to come home already. He passes through some Instagram stories, sees Innie’s, he's probably with Jisung, Minho and Seungmin, too. They all sort of left the party at the same time. With a sigh, Chris gets up, grabs all he needs for a shower and heads into the bathroom. Jinnie's not done yet, and that's precisely why he goes.

“Hey,” he smirks. “‘Sup.”

Jinnie looks at him with eyes filled with mirth. She hums and watches Chris strip his clothes and get under the shower with her. He sighs and tenderly hugs her, feeling his body heating up from the contact and the water, planting his lips on Jinnie's shoulder. She patiently waits, and sure enough, his lips start going up her neck.

She giggles, “I knew it.” Jinnie can feel his smile on her neck.

“Knew what?”

“That you'd wanna.”

Chris stops so he can look at her. “And you don't wanna?” Jinnie bites her lower lip. “Yeah, I thought so.”

He kisses her face. Her forehead, her nose, her cheeks and finally her lips, always plump and always meeting his so well. It's her tongue that enters his mouth shyly, which makes a tingle go up Chris’ back. He knows she won't want to take things slow, so his hands fall to her ass and squeeze. Jinnie gives him a minimal nod, so he dares further, pulling her asscheeks apart and teases her hole with a finger.

Jinnie slightly arches her back, searching for more. Water is never a good lubricant, so he guides her until her back is against the wall, and quickly gets the bottle he brought to the bathroom. She chuckles, but he's just cautious — he knows she's not a big fan of spit as lube.

He pours it over his fingers and puts the bottle back on the kitchen counter. Chris gently turns Jinnie around so he has better access and starts working on her. He circles it and leaves a trail of kisses all over her back, shoulders and neck, making sure she's comfortable enough so he can push a finger in. Jinnie hums, hot breath on the cold tiles. After she's well relaxed and his finger doesn't catch on the rim anymore, he slides in two more, which is what she's used to.

“Come on,” she whispers when she's leaking.

Chris kisses the tip of her ear. “Okay, baby.”

His own neglected dick is leaking, he realizes when he gives it a few jerks to take the edge off and his hand comes back sticky. Chris guides his dick inside Jinnie slowly, taking all of it, of her, in. Her warmth, tightness, her held breath until he bottoms out and the air comes out in a strangled, needy moan.

He hugs her and starts thrusting leisurely but steadily to rile her up. His breath is coming out in warm puffs on her ear, making Jinnie shiver and arch her back, which in turn makes Chris brush against her sweet little spot. Her mouth hangs open; there's a plea for more on her tongue. Chris pretends he doesn't know and keeps up his pace, but mercifully massages her small breasts, very slightly pinching and twisting her nipples. He makes sure to be careful, since they're still in a growth process (and Jinnie usually complains about how bad it hurts).

“Chris,” and it's a whisper. Her voice only comes out to moan.

He smiles, but doesn't let it show in his voice. “Hm?”

“Come on,” she manages to get out.

“What is it, baby? I’m not getting it.”

Jinnie lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Alright,” Chris chuckles. She shivers again.

Christopher unwraps his arms and instead glues his hands to her hips so he can properly speed up. Jinnie's recently done nails uselessly claw at the tiles, slipping every time, but she can't stop. Her body feels so stimulated it needs to get a grip, to stay attached to reality and not end up passing out. She's sure her lips must be bleeding from how much she's been biting them.

He sets his bite on her back, doesn't close his mouth but scratches her skin just enough that she clutches one of his arms. Her nails now dig in them and Chris grunts. “Baby,” his voice is but a hum, “you close?”

Jinnie can only nod desperately, lips mouthing 'please' over, and over, and over. Chris needs to get a tight grip on something and he can't bruise his girl, so he wraps an arm back around her, hand on the shoulder, and gives his thrusts his all. He can feel her moving a little, which she's just about to finish herself off (she told him once that she feels dysphoric whenever he does it, and he never did it again), and it's like an imaginary string snaps in his head.

She paints the floor, face bunched up and squished against the tiles. Her high pitched moans drive him insane, like they scratch just the right part of Chris’ eardrums. He groans in her ear, moaning shamelessly, losing his pace and so his thrusts go erratic, cum filling Jinnie up in spurts.

“Ah,” he sighs.

Jinnie is panting. “Yeah. Oh, Iwannasleepsobad.”

“I love you,” Chris chuckles and kisses her shoulder. He carefully pulls out due to the sensitivity they're both feeling. Jinnie hisses and he’s quick to turn her around again and let her rest in his arms.

“Love you too,” she hugs him with weak arms, humming.

They stay wrapped up in this tooth rotting sweet embrace until both come back to their conscious, normal selves.

Jinnie hums again. “I’m gonna tell everyone you cum in less than ten minutes.”

Chris laughs, “Oh, you know I only did that ‘cause I took pity on you.” She tilts her head. “I know you're sleepy.”

“Sure, sure,” she pats his shoulder. “Dream on.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’ll only help you clean up ‘cause I love you, but this is very toxic.” Chris smiles with her laugh and soaps his hands up with her soap. He kneels down and washes her asscheeks and legs with a soft touch — most of it’s probably been washed away by the water.

“Thank you, baby,” she seals their lips together and leaves, drying herself with the fluffiest towel she owns. Jinnie goes to their bedroom and slathers lotion all over her body, spreading and massaging her skin thoroughly, trying to make up for being under hot water for so long. Her silk purple nightgown is soft on her skin and she’s just waiting for Chris to come to bed so that she can get her desired sleep.

Jinnie checks her phone and Lixia still hasn't answered her. Worrying her lips, she decides it's better to just call, but it goes straight to voicemail. Her phone is probably dead already, she thinks with a huff.

She's afraid that Lixia might go a little too wild, flash teachers or counselors or something like that, but it also wouldn't be that big of a deal to her — Jinnie knows how crazy she can get, but she also knows just how much she can get away with anything. It's about 4AM, and she decides not to be annoying. Lixia will be fine. She does wish she’d answer, though.

Jinnie jumps up in bed when a loud bam thunders through the cabin. The fragile wooden structure seems to almost shake with the sound. She gets up and out of bed, running to the bathroom to see if Chris is okay, if he fell or passed out, she goes to open the door, but—

The door isn't in the hinges anymore. It's lying on the floor, clearly broken down. Her heart falls to the pit of her stomach when she hears Chris’ voice filled with despair and anger.

“Fucking let me go, you motherfucker, I’ll fucking kill you, I swear-”

A thud.

When Jinnie looks over the threshold, she can't help but hug herself, instinctively trying to protect herself from the sight. What she sees is Chris’ and this- this man, this huge man, who looks very hurt and strong’s profiles. Her boyfriend has a thin line of blood slowly going down his face. The tile where Chris’ face is squished against is also bloody. The man has a handful of his hair.

Jinnie can also see the true fear in Christopher’s eyes. She hasn't seen anything even close to that in him ever. Not even when they went against one of the strongest teams of the state. It looks so raw, like he knows, he knows something but will fight it still.

She shakes herself off of this daze and steps forward to help him, to push this monster off and run away from him together, but she doesn't get far.

The man — no, Jinnie won't call it that anymore. The monster, with its scarred looking face, hits Christopher's head against the wall again. And again. And again.

His eyes remain open the entire time, even as he screams in pain. Jinnie can hear something crack, she doesn't know if it's the tile or, or his head, shedding more blood by the second, covering the floor. She can also hear his voice get less and less present, less loud, but never less sad and desperate.

His eyes remain open the entire time, as if he's telling her to leave, I’ll meet you there, just go, I still love you.

She only moves when the monster lets go of him and his body hits the ground with a heavier thud. Her body comes back to the present situation with a quick shock and she takes that step back. The monster tilts its head as it looks at her.

Jinnie bolts out of the room. The main door is ajar and she throws it open to run past it, feeling the rocky path on her feet again since she's still barefoot. But this time, unlike the walk home with Chris, she doesn't have time to look at where she's stepping.

She doesn't know where to go, to the lake or the cabins nearby, she doesn't even have her phone with her, she doesn't have anything, the lights are low, she can't see and all she can hear is the rush of blood in her ears. She just chooses to run.

Jinnie gets on a dirt track that she thinks leads to other cabins, where hopefully someone will be awake and willing to help. She wants and also doesn't want to look back, to know if it's close to her or if she can hide somewhere. Jinnie cranes her neck around her shoulder and sees it behind her, not too far. It's not even running. It's walking like chasing her takes no effort, every step it takes is about three of hers.

When she looks ahead again, she sees the ground. One of her feet catches on something, a stick, maybe, and she falls on the dirt on her hands and knees. Jinnie yells out and desperately crawls, getting back up on her feet as fast as she can. She looks back again and it's closer.

Eventually, she gets out of the path and reaches another cabin, and the campfire in front of it still has some embers in it, which means that whoever did it can probably still be awake. “Help!” She screams until her voice breaks. “Please! Help me! Help!” Jinnie has her hands around her mouth as she keeps running, but none of the lights in the cabin even go on. Frustrated, she grunts but ends up tripping on a rock. A pained yelp scratches its way out of her. “No, nonono, fuck no,” she says under her breath.

Her right foot is twisted. It looks awful, like it could be seriously broken. Jinnie cries out when she thinks of Chris’ face and how he stayed with her until the end. She crawls forward to the track that probably leads to another cabin, staining her beautiful dress. The ends of her wet hair get dirty as well.

Something grabs her hurt foot. Jinnie yells and starts wriggling around, writhing in pain with the tight grip the monster has on her ankle. “Let me go, let me go, you- you-!” It starts dragging her away. For a second, she's confused, until the dying campfire enters her sight again. She shakes her head. “No. No. No.” She mutters it like a mantra, until she believes it.

Nothing will happen. Everything will turn out okay in the end, that's how it's always been, even with her parents and her transition, she’s already planning her bottom surgery and life will be so incredibly better then, it can't just!

The monster grabs her hair just as tightly as it did with Chris’ and rubs her face on the glowing ember. Jinnie screams like never before as the fire comes back to life with her head as fuel.

She can feel her skin burning and it briefly reminds her of that time her mom's cigarette accidentally brushed against her arm and the bruise stayed red for a good few days before it disappeared. But this time it's all over her face, even her eyes, and she almost wishes she wouldn't get out of this alive so she wouldn't have to look at the scars every day. Jinnie feels her skin melting, like she has to hold it up with her hands so she won't be just a skeleton. Her dad said she was too skinny a couple of days ago. Jinnie’s skin sticks to the stones.

Now that the fire is bigger, her hair burns away quickly. All of it. She can't smell anything since her nose only feels the fire, but she knows what burning hair smells like. Christopher burned some of the hair on his arm once, when he was trying to play with a candle during sex. That day was so nice, Jinnie thinks, and gets lost in it. The screams die, but her mind is stuck on Christopher. In his aftercare, his hugs, kisses and reassuring words.

Some of her discomfort eases off as her body turns lifeless.

Minho keeps pinching his thigh as he tries calling Christopher again for the nth time. He's sitting with his legs crossed, back against the water tank. Chris doesn't pick up again, and it's been that way for the past hour. At some point during it, they had an argument because Minho wanted to try calling Jinnie, and Jisung simply said they couldn't.

“Why not?” Minho asked, genuinely confused. His phone still had a decent amount of battery, and the signal up here is great.

Jisung buried his head between his knees. His voice came out muffled. “It's against bro code. I don't have Lixia’s number, either.”

Minho wasn't too harsh on him because he's still losing his mind, hugging his knees and occasionally whispering something he doesn't understand. He tries Seungmin again. Nothing.

“Seungmin’s not answering me,” Minho mumbles. “Not about the counselors, not any calls.”

“Do you think something happened to him,” he says. His tone is neutral.

“I-” Minho shakes his head. “I don't know. I’ll try the cops again. Here, you too,” he hands Jisung's phone back to him. They tried the police a few times on the way to the tower, but either the signal wasn't strong enough or no one picked up.

They both type in the three numbers and press call. The seconds listening to the beeps feel like minutes, but eventually Jisung’s phone stops ringing. Minho can hear it when the lady asks what the emergency is.

He stutters. “Uh, m- my friend, my friend died.”

Minho face palms and whispers, “Gimme this.” He gently takes the phone from the other's hand and takes it to his ear. “Hello, hi. Please,” Minho's voice breaks, “we need help, uhm, there's been a death, at least it's the only one we’re aware of, but probably other people died, too.” He cringes and rubs his face. This sounds like a prank call, something you see kids doing for fun. The lady asks their address. “I don't know. We’re at Stray Camp? No, no- no, that's too long. No, you don't understand, there's someone killing people, we’re- we could be next, we- No, I can't stay on the phone, there's-” he checks it, “10% left. Fine, you know what, fine.”

With Minho’s deepest frustrated sigh, Jisung turns to look at him. “What did she say?”

He meets his gaze. “That they'll be here in an hour.”

“What the—”

“I know,” Minho gets closer to him. “I know. But we're currently in the middle of nowhere, in the end of the world, so it'll take a while. I think it's best if we just stay over here. We should be safe.”

“They were screaming, Minho,” Jisung looks ahead of him. He seems lost, eyes far away. “I think I heard Jinnie screaming.”

Minho thinks so, too. He shuts his eyes tightly. “I know. Don't think about it.”

“I can't. Minho, we should've gone into the party and warned everyone. We should've all stayed together. No one else would die.”

“I know, Jisung, but we didn't, okay, we- we just ran because I didn't know what to do and you were fucking, I dunno, catatonic,” Minho touches the cigarette pack in his pocket. “I’m sorry. I didn't think.”

Jisung shakes his head and gets up. “We should have…”

“Jisung, please sit down, you could be s—”

“Oh, no,” his voice cracks when he suddenly comes to a stop in his short walk on the small platform. “That's- that's Felixia. Oh my God. Bin must be in the lake,” he almost gags and turns away from the sight. “Oh, my God, my lil’ brother, I can't believe that- it was so violent, Minho. What the fuck is going on? Fucking look at that,” he points without turning around.

Minho reluctantly gets up because Jisung is whispering to himself again. He looks to where he pointed and even though it's still sort of dark, oh, yes, that is Felixia. Recognizable, no matter what. Unforgettable. It feels too wrong to look. Her body is too vulnerable, naked figuratively as well. Alone. He pries his eyes away and cradles Jisung’s face with his hands. “Don't. Think. About them. Not right now, okay? We need to get the fuck out of here first. It's just us, Jisung. Right now it's just us.”

He takes him back to where the tower faces the woods and both sit down. Minho takes his pack out and lights a cigarette up. Jisung doesn't bother him about it. He finishes it and lights up two more, chain-smoking, but nothing is said between them.

Sometime between cigarettes, Minho lays his head on Jisung's shoulder, who sighs and pets his head. The sun is coming up. The sky is going from blue, to light blue, to light yellow. No clouds, as usual in this camp that seemingly is in hell. It's too simple, but not at all.

“How long?” Jisung croaks out.

Minho taps on the screen of his phone. “A half hour.”

Jisung hums for a long time, like a bored child. Good- he seems more hopeful. Minho lights another cigarette. “You know, if you keep doing that, you're not gonna have any lungs to run with.”

“No lungs needed. The other exit is somewhere around here, according to the map.”

Jisung shrugs. His eyes are raw, red and irritated. Dry, tired, but he keeps his eyes open.

“Twenty,” Minho says after a while. “Twenty minut—”

Of course, hope is short lived.

The tower swings. Minho can feel Jisung straighten his back. Like he knows.

At first it's fine, an imbalance that could have been caused by a strong gust of wind, but there is no wind. Not even a breeze, stupid dry summer roasting them to death. Maybe rotting wood, one could guess, except that they climbed up here just fine. Not to mention that the camp is new, only a few years old, which means the whole place, even the water tower, was built recently.

It swings again, harder this time.

“God, please, no,” Minho whispers and looks down. He doesn't need much thinking to know that that is what's been terrorizing them. “Fuck.”

Jisung gets up and pointedly looks down, like all of the nothingness suddenly sparks into anger. “You ugly ass motherfucker, you came to get us now, yeah? I’m gonna kill you, bitch!” He yells. Minho covers his mouth — he thinks he might pass out.

The killer has a machete and starts violently swinging it against the tower's legs. They can't see it very well, but it looks sharp. The tower shakes with every hit, and they clutch the railing, but it's not much help.

“Let's get down this bitch,” Jisung softly pushes Minho in the direction of the ladder.

They are halfway down when it finally tips. It goes slowly, like the beginning of a roller coaster trip, and gets faster as it reaches the ground. Minho feels like his insides are frozen, as if someone punched him, he would probably shatter into bloody pieces.

“Be ready to run,” Minho tells him.

The huge structure hits the ground.

Water crashes through the wood, taking boards and nails and splinters everywhere, all around them. It's extremely hard to run against the wave, Jisung even falls down at some point and Minho can't help because he's in front of him, but they manage to do it. Of course, in the end they're soaking wet, bodies heavy with the added weight of the water in their clothes.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jisung keeps saying during the whole time they're running. Minho has to look back, but he checks for where the thing is first — it's walking towards them without any hurry. When he looks at Jisung, there's something wrong. He's limping, Jisung’s limping because there's this- this wooden stake in his thigh. Minho’s legs stutter. “Don't fucking stop,” Jisung tells him through his teeth, so he doesn't.

The track they're on leads to part of the periphery area of the camp, and they soon see a big yellow sign that spells 'GOODBYE, KIDS!', which tells them enough. They are on their way to leave this hellhole.

“Sung,” Minho yells out when Jisung almost trips, “Sung, we’re really close, don't you fucking- dare to stop,” he wheezes. His chest hurts too much from the tight squeeze of his unforgivable binder.

Jisung groans loudly. “I can't,” he shakes his head. Sung looks back to see where the killer is and hisses, clutching his wound with his hands. The bleeding isn't too strong since the stake is still in his leg, but he needs a relief from the pain. He puts pressure on it and it does feel better for a few seconds. The throbbing is gone, but the splinters on the wood pinch him from the inside. Jisung wants to pull it out, but just tugging on it makes his eyes flash white.

“Don't be a pussy,” Minho hisses at him, but takes Jisung's arm and puts it around his shoulder, helping him go forward.

They can see the gate, big and made of iron instead of wood.

It's padlocked.

“No,” Minho whispers.

“Wha-?” Jisung follows his gaze.”I can- I can break it,” he nods and takes his lantern out from the waistband of his boxers. Sung stumbles forward until he can touch the padlock. He starts hammering it with the lantern, dragging forces from God knows where.

Minho turns around to watch over him and feels his body involuntary flinch at the sight of the monster coming towards them. He looks so heavy, big muscles and limbs, it's a wonder he can walk and the Earth doesn't shake. It certainly feels that way to Minho. He sees the monster taking out knives. “Sung,” he calls out and turns around. “Sung, hurry up- ah!” Minho trips forward with the impact on his back. It feels like a sudden cramp on his muscles. “Ow, what the- hurry up,” he tells him and crouches beside Jisung to help.

“Minho, what the fuck,” Jisung shrieks. “A knife, it's a fucking knife on your back,” he looks at the killer, he’s a lot closer now, and his calm paces only riles Jisung up further. “Break this thing,” he whispers to Minho and straightens up.

“No, where’re you going? Jisung,” Minho calls, but he's already limping in the direction of the thing.

Jisung walks with the purpose of distraction. He bites his lip and starts going to his left, trying to lure it away from Minho. “Come on, bitch,” the thing shoots a knife at him. It catches on the trunk of a small tree. Jisung pretends to laugh so it won't see his fear. “That all? Huh, that all you can do, big guy?” His leg is killing him, he needs to stop for a second to hold it again, and that's when it hits him. The blade enters in the side of his stomach and it's short enough that it doesn't break through him. “F-uuuuuck, you motherfucker, you’ve never been loved in your life, I bet the people who pushed you off the cliff were your parents, too disappointed in the mess of a person they made,” Jisung wheezes out. He makes sure it's loud enough. The adrenaline is pumping through his whole body, he can feel it in his extremities, clouding his judgment. He starts luring the monster closer to himself, but at the same time doesn't give him any chances of throwing knives again. “And now you wanna hurt people,” Jisung circles a tree, “like a drama queen.”

The monster’s steps get heavier as it follows Jisung around the trees. Jisung shuts up and forces himself to walk silently when he sees the golden opportunity right in front of him. Literally — the monster momentarily loses him and Jisung is behind him.

Jisung bites on his hand when he pulls the stake out at once, removing it by where it entered him. His chest burns, it actually feels like it's on fire, like all of the sound he would make turns into heat. A second later, he shoves it in the monster's back.

There's no pained scream, no yelling. Just heavy groans that come out along with groans. Jisung twists the stake while he pushes it further. “Feels good, doesn't it, you motherfucker.”

He even tries pushing it to the ground, but it's too heavy, and its flesh is giving in under his hands. The monster falls to its knees by itself, and Jisung can't take the sudden emptiness. He stumbles forward, in Minho’s direction.

“Minho,” he whispers. Jisung clears his throat to speak louder. “Minho. Minho, can you help me, here?”

Minho, all the way on the gate, gives the padlock one last hit and it falls to the ground, broken. He then runs to Jisung. “Hey, I’m here. I did it, I broke it,” he slowly helps Sung up.

“Oh, you did it, that's good,” Jisung sighs, “that's really, you're really so great,” he nods, panting, and his body is a lot heavier now.

“Ow, come on, Jisung, you- you’re heavy, you know.” He looks back. It's tricky to see, but there's a big silhouette on the ground, a bit far from them. “Oh, you did it, too,” Minho feels some relief. In his head — his torso is still being tormented by the knife in his back, but he knows better than to take it out. Jisung's skin is too pale and sweaty, too, and Minho realizes why.

The ground here, composed basically of sand, is being stained with the blood oozing from his leg. His thigh has a big hole in it, it's huge and it's bleeding too much. Too much.

“Sung, it's too- Wait, I’ll stop here,” Minho lays him down by the open gate and lies beside him, on his stomach, and feels his back throb. He's having difficulties breathing, it's probably a panic attack, so he simply does his best to fix his breathing beside Jisung. “You did it. We’re gonna be fine,” he mutters, to himself and to reassure Jisung as well, even though he's not responding to him, probably due to the pain he's feeling.

Minho’s breathing doesn't get any better. In fact, the more he does it, the worse it gets, and dread has its cold fingers around his throat when he realizes the knife punctured a lung.

“Fuck,” he whispers. He can't even reach the handle.

Amidst the quietness of the birdless woods, sirens are heard.

“Oh, shit,” Minho raises his head and tries looking out of the gate. He can't see anything yet, the sirens are actually far away, of course he can't see, but they're coming. They're coming to get them. His chest rapidly rises and falls, over and over in a desperate panting haze. It worries him, but the sirens get closer by the second, they'll be fine. Oh, they’ll be fine. “Do you hear that, Sungie?” Minho dumbly smiles. His face is tingling and the air is scarce. “We’ll be safe, you hear me? We’ll be fine,” he coughs. “We’ll be safe. Sung. Sung, thepoliceiscoming. They're coming for us.”

After all of this time speaking, Minho finally looks Jisung in the eye. His smile dies.

Jisung looks… pale, yes, and his mouth is hanging open and his eyes are open, too, looking somewhere beyond Minho.

“What,” he whispers. “No, but- you said. Anything, you said,” Minho coughs again. Yeah, he said anything. He can handle things. He definitely just passed out and Minho is overthinking because his brain is going a hundred miles per hour but it's still so slow at the same time.

Minho shakes his head and gets closer to Jisung. He won't check his heartbeat. He caresses Jisung's face softly, smearing blood on it. “You're so warm, still,” he desperately gets out, and refuses to acknowledge the fact that Jisung's hot breath isn't hitting his thumb. Minho just closes his eyes and listens to the sirens, closer with every second, closer, closer, closer…

His head falls forward, bumping into Jisung's.

Then, just like how the birds leave when the monster is near, their chirping now replaces the sirens, which start to slowly fade away from Minho's ears as he slips into darkness.