[ setting: en route to
isirep, gulop
year 7864 ]

BORA honestly couldn't believe her eyes when she saw those disgustingly large, bloodied and decaying creatures. they were aiming straight for her and the rest of her group. to make things worse, there were seven of those things, towering about the same height of the trees in the forest.

"fuck" bora heard from behind her, she didn't have to turn around to know who was behind her.

"what the fuck does your boyfriend think he's doing by having us fight these things?" bora snapped at the blonde.

"the hell if i know" the male huffed, a glare sent in the creatures directions. "but i'm not dying"

"and you think the rest of us will?" seulgi scoffed from the side of jeonghan. "is there even enough of us here?"

"there seven of us" the youngest, donghyuck, voiced. his eyes scanning the area around them. "johnny! we should attack from the side!"

"are you sure?" johnny raised his eyebrows for reassurance.

"when have i ever been wrong!?"

"alright kid, you better not get us killed" johnny muttered the last part to himself but bora, who was beside him, still heard it.

"well, you heard the kid!" bora yelled to the front liners. "attack from the side and don't die!"

"if you do... walk it off!"

with that, the group of seven split up into their respective groups. bora and seulgi were the first to split away, increasing their speed, bora leading the way.

donghyuck, jeonghan and johnny made their way to the opposite side of bora and seulgi. the last two, jungkook and taehyung, split down the middle. each team had their target, and they were stopping at nothing to make this trip a safe one.

bora sent seulgi a subtle nod, both girls standing on their horses. seulgi gripped onto her strings, she didn't remember the land being this raged before. with a huff, seulgi pushed herself into a standing position, not missing the look bora sent her.

"lets get this over with" seulgi hissed out. no words were exchanged as the duo shot their hooks onto the 8 meter tall creature.

wind blowing their hair back, as they flew in the air, their blades ready. bora landed the first hit. a long gash on the arm, bora unhooked her grapple, running up the arm.

"watch out!" seulgi yelled as she finished landing her hit on the creatures knees.

bora quickly jumped off the creature's arm as it's large hand slammed down where she was standing a few seconds prior. with an annoyed huff, bora shoots her grapple onto the level 4 creature and swings around it. bora readies her blade as she's thrown into the air. bora ends it by piercing right in the middle of it's thick skull, pressing further for better measure.

"let's not waste time" donghyuck voiced after they saw bora and seulgi succeed.

johnny and jeonghan nodded their heads as they went towards their own target. donghyuck took his grapple and shot it on the creature's shoulder, flying towards it with his blade in hand.

donghyuck somersaulted himself over the creatures shoulder, landing on the rocky grounds. wincing as he felt a few minerals cut and poke it's way through his flesh. donghyuck turned just in time to see a giant foot above him.

oh fuck. he thought and closed his eyes, but the impact that he felt wasn't one he expected. peeking his eye open, donghyuck was met with an unfamiliar yet handsome guy. he looked to be no older than donghyuck himself.

"i hope you're alive" the boy voiced and donghyuck huffed.

"yeah, thanks" the boy stands up and holds his hand out for donghyuck, which he gladly takes.

"it's about time you guys got here" johnny panted as he and jeonghan finished taking down their target.

the boy shrugged before gesturing towards miyoung and seungcheol. "we got miyoung to persuade him"

"we can't stay long tho, you're fucking up formation" another voice sounded from behind. this time, a light brown haired male walked up. his eyes in a permanent scowl as the sun beat sown on his face, his tan skin glistening with sweat.

"yeah, i guess the trackers missed something" johnny sighed and ran a hand through his hair lazily.

"huang! lee! lets move!" seungcheol called out, the two nodded before turning back to johnny and donghyuck.

"that's our cue. don't die" renjun spoke with a sarcastic tone as he walked off, the other following when donghyuck stopped him.

"thanks again..." he trailed off, the taller stifling a laugh before ruffling donghyuck's hair.

"mark. mark lee"

—

"ugh, i'm dead tired" mingyu complained as they stopped for a quick few minutes. jun shook his head, a smile playing at his lips.

"they should be here soon" kim dahyun voiced from the tree branch she was sitting on. her binoculars focusing on the open land, her eyes searching for any sign of a human or horse.

"how soon is soon?" mingyu questioned and dahyun let out a dragged sigh.

"i don't know mingyu, would you like to go out and find them?" dahyun raised an eyebrow as she pulled her face away from the binoculars.

"whatever" mingyu huffed as he stood up and looked out for the rest of formation. "the only bad part about trackers is that we have to wait"

"oh! i see them!" dahyun cheered and mingyu and jun both let out a sigh of relief. "the formation changed? that must be why it took them longer to get here"

"they changed formation?" jun asked while furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

i wonder what set them back. jun thought.

"let's go hui" mingyu tapped his best friend's shoulder, pulling the older out of his thoughts.

"what? oh um right" jun chuckled, hopping on his horse and heading towards the formation.

once he was close enough, he stopped in front of commander bae and lee, seungcheol and miyoung next to them.

"what happened?" he questioned.

"ran into 7 level 4's on the way, things got a little messy" commander lee spoke. "is the bridge down yet?"

"yes. we already searched, no signs of life" dahyun informs and commander lee nods.

"any product? food?" commander bae questions.

"yes there are a few stores that didn't take as much damage"

"then what are we waiting for?" seungcheol shoots out before he takes off on his horse, miyoung following right behind him.

miyoung's eyes widened slightly, gasps were heard all around her. the town that was once lively, filled to the brink with laughter and painted with love, with people. now the only thing painting this town was blood, disaster, tragedy.

miyoung felt a hand on her shoulder, turning she saw jihoon looking at her with a worried glance. "i'll be fine" she lied.

the nineteen year old felt sick to her stomach, this town reeked of death. it reminded her of her own hometown. if it was even a town anymore, it had been around 8 years since those things attacked her town. 5 years since she became a soldier. yet, she still would never get used to the aftermath that those creatures had left.

"let's just get this over with. please" miyoung grimaced as her eyes met a wall with blood splattered on it.

"all right soldiers, split up, meet back here in 20. you know what to do" commander bae yelled out and the soldiers scattered like flies.

miyoung was pulled by soonyoung, who had just joined by her side. miyoung turned her head and looked up at the male, a questioning glance on her face.

"mingyu and jun went this way" soonyoung shrugged absentmindedly. miyoung only nodded as the two of them made their way around the barely standing town.

"JUN!"

miyoung and soonyoung's heads shoot up, their feet pulling them before their mind could even register what was about to happen. the dust particles flying into their faces as they ran at full speed, following mingyu's voice.

it was then they found mingyu and chan, in the middle of an abandoned home, the inside of the house was well kept but there wasn't much of a home left of it. miyoung coughed slightly before rushing over to her brother.

"what happened?" miyoung felt a sharp piercing pain in her heart as she saw her brother with tears pooling in his eyes.

her eyes shifted over to chan for a quick second, the sixteen year old was no better than mingyu. the younger was visibly shaken up, yet neither soonyoung or miyoung knew why.

"where's jihoon and bora?" miyoung asked as she looked up at sooyoung, the male running a stressed hand through his hair.

"i hoped they were with them" sooyoung pointed towards his unsettled group members.

miyoung sighed. her arms dropping to her sides as she stood up. her eyes wandering around the broken and torn up home, a glare coming over her eyes as her fist clenched.

just exactly what the hell had happened and where was junhui ?