THE EXO WAR

Chapter 8

Everything was back to normal. Chanyeol, Chen and D.O flopped on the couch. Lay was in the kitchen, cooking food. Okay, maybe trying to cook food.
"Chen?" Lay called. "Am I doing this right?"
This was the one hundredth time. Chen got annoyed. "Chen?!" Lay called again. "Come here please."
Chen groaned, then got up. D.O folowed.
"If you want to cook properly, you call D.O," D.O said.
Chen and D.O walked into the kitchen. It was an open kitchen, so there was no wall inbetween the dining area and the kitchen. Lay was cooking rice.
"You're still up to cooking rice?!" Chen said.
Chen grabbed a bag of rice and plopped it into the rice cooker.
"That's not how you do it," D.O said. "You got to take the rice out of the bag first."
"Ah, whatever," groaned Chen.
"What should we make for lunch anyway?" Lay asked.
"Jjajangmyeon? (Black bean noodles)" suggested Tao, walking into the kitchen.
Suho said told a joke that was too lame to put in this book.
Chen, D.O, Lay and Tao looked at Suho.
"Didn't get the joke," Chen said.
"You don't get any of my jokes," said Suho.
"Practice," said Tao through half a mouthful of rice.
"How the-?" D.O stumbled.
"Time control," Tao shrugged.
"Yeah, let's make Jjajangmyeon," said Suho.
***
All of the ten were at the table. Kris took a little bite. Then he started eating more. And more. And-
"Anyone know where Kris and Luhan are?" said Tao.
"What?"  Sehun said through half a mouthful of Jjajangmyeon.
"We haven't heard them since we were in the... Maze," Tao said.
The others remained silent.
Lay stood up.
"I saw Luhan and Kris. They said something was controlling them. They said they were too dangerous. They left," Lay said.
Tao clenched his fists silently. Something was getting to him. But he was strong enough to resist it without pain or struggle.
***
"Working is hard without our powers," complained Kai. "Suho could clean the mess with his water in a snap."
"And I could fix that broken light bulb," Baekhyun said, looking at the flickering light bulb that had slowly started to die.
"I could blow the leaves of the path outside," Sehun said, walking outside.
"I could start the fire in the fireplace in no time," said Chanyeol, failing to use matches to light a fire like the humans did.
Suddenly everything grew dark
"Great," said Chen. "Blackout. I could bring back power in no time."
"Aha!" Chanyeol said, lighting the fire.
But it didn't give enough light.
"Remember to close the glass," said Suho.
"Yes,"said Chanyeol.
Someone walked in. It was Tao coming back from shopping. The others knew he could easily be scared. They hid away.
"Hey, guys, I've finished the shopping," Tao said. "Guys?"
"Tao," whispered Kai. "It's me."
"Um... Who, exactly?" said Tao.
"I'm coming for you, Tao," said Kai. "I COMING FOR YOU!"
Tao jumped. The lights flickered on. Tao was all alone. Chanyeol had the slightest time to place a knife near him and play dead.
"Chanyeol!?" Tao gasped.
Kai slowly crept behind him.
"Tao," Kai said. "It was me, Tao."
Tao looked behind him and kicked Kai in the face accidentally. Kai fell onto the couch. The others got out of their hiding place.
"Did you see your face!" Chen said.
"Don't do that!" Tao said.
***
It was dinnertime. The food Tao had brought disappeared fast. Having cooked the food, Chanyeol, who had just washed the dishes came back to find nothing for him.
"Sorry, Chanyeol," Xiumin said, through half a mouthful of food.
Chanyeol made food with the remaining scraps for himself. Suho walked in.
"Why are you eating alone?" said Suho.
"I was washing the dishes," Chanyeol said. "Then the food was gone."
***
It was the next day. Lay, Kai and Baekhyun wandered around the city, looking for more clothes for the ten.
"I think this would suit Sehun," Baekhyun said.
"Yeah," Kai said.
"I think Chanyeol would like this one," said Lay, picking out a leather jacket.
After paying for the clothes, they walked home. The twelve had lunch. Suho spoke up.
"Excuse me," he said. "We need to get actual jobs. Money is running low now."
"Yes, mum," Kai complained.
"I'm not a mum," said Suho.
"Yes, mum," Kai complained again.
"I'm not near old enough to be a mother, plus I'm a man," Suho said.
"The point is, you guys need to earn money faster," Xiumin said.