Run.

34

The battle rages on, but all you see is your friend, collapsing to the frozen ground as blood pours from his side. You reach desperately for Minho, only to be continually, relentlessly dragged backwards, deeper into the trees.

"Minho!!" Your scream falls on deaf ears, the arms simply tightening around your waist in response. They don't budge an inch. You thrash wildly against your captor, but nothing seems to work. You grab at tree branches, anything to slow your movement down, but your injured arm gives out almost instantaneously, making it impossible to hang on to anything.

Suddenly, a realization comes crashing through you.

With all of your strength, you lurch towards the ground, flinging your upper body straight down. Just before the arms manage to hoist you back up, your hand finds the hilt of the knife still hidden in your boot.

In one fluid motion, you yank the knife free, bringing it up and slashing viciously at one of the arms still dragging you back.

A voice cries out in pain as the arms release you.

You drop, thudding to the ground. Scrambling quickly, you get to your feet, knowing you can't throw away this opportunity. Knowing each second is precious in escaping whoever is trying to separate you from the boys.

Glancing back for just a moment, you spot a man you don't recognize clutching his arm as he reels back. Not wasting any more time trying to take a closer look, you turn your attention forward, starting to run back to the clearing where your friends are fighting for their lives.

Where one friend lies with a bullet wound in his side.

You swallow hard, unwilling to consider the possibility that the wound could be fatal. That Minho could be...

But before you've even taken two steps, a blinding pain explodes in the back of your head. Stars dance in front of your eyes as you fall to the ground once more. Groaning, you reach a hand back, feeling something wet spreading across the back of your head. You don't need to see it to know its blood.

You try again to climb to your feet, but your head feels as though it weighs a thousand pounds. The pain pulses and spreads throughout your skull, making your vision blurry. You hear the sound of a gun cocking as some heavy object is pressed on your chest, pushing you back down and holding you in place. The snow burns against your bare arms.

As your vision slowly comes back into focus, you realize the heavy object pushing you down is actually a thick, black combat boot. Your eyes trail up, freezing as your gaze lands on the owner of the boot.

Boss Kang.

More composed than the last time you saw him. Still bloody and torn, but the old charming facade is back in place, masking the madness within.

Not again, this can't be happening again. How can he be here? We lost him in the woods...

Kang must have hit you with the hilt of his gun as you tried to get away from the man who you now realize must be one of his troops. Your head still throbs horribly from the blow, now matching the pain still radiating from the wound in your arm.

Kang chuckles as he sees the look of horror on your face. He levels the gun at your head. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"H-how did you f-find us?" You gasp, his boot slowly squeezing all the air from your lungs.

He laughs derisively, as though you had asked the most absurd question he had ever heard.

"You really thought you could escape me? How cute. I never lost you, little girl. Not for one moment. I've kept an eye on you since I killed that wretched traitor, Mi Young." A pang of sadness shoots through your heart at the mention of your friend.