Run Away || Txtzy

⁰⁵|North Camp

"Why in the world are we running again?" That was the tenth time the question escaped Beomgyu's lips, and by the looks on the other's sweaty faces, no one cared to even answer.

The seven teens are currently playing chase of life and death, if the five teens had to call it. They didn't know why they were running away from the two girls in the first place, but from the way they almost shot Yeonjun dead just earlier, they figured that it'd be better to just run.

"You five! Stop right there!" The cat-eyed girl screamed in an intensity that made the teens winced. Her voice was so loud that they're afraid would lure monsters towards them.

Yeonjun turn to face her, his legs have not given up on sprinting their lives out. "And you think we'll just say "okay"? Keep dreaming!"

The younger four shot him an incredulous look as if saying 'are you seriously trying to make her more furious?' Yeonjun gave them apologetic looks as they heard the girl screamed from behind.

"You little shit!" Her voice booms around them, followed by her friend's laughs. The teens did not know nor want to know what the sloth-like girl found so funny to be laughing like that. It sounded like she was a three years old playing chase with her dad at home while her mother watched from the sidelines with a warm smile.

That would have been wonderful if only they were playing chase with their mother on the sidelines and not some starved looking man-eating monsters. But alas, with the situation they were in, everything relates to life and death, so there were no need to be disappointed.

"Honestly why are you even chasing us?!" Taehyun screamed out. If he was a cartoon character you would have seen the steam exiting his ear. Taehyun was never fond of sports. In fact, he hated moving his body at all. But now, all of a sudden, he had to use up all of his energy just to run away from one angry stray cat and one sloth in human's body who he was sure not right in the head. Just great.

"Why are you running?!" The girl screamed back. She looked more furious then ever, and no one knows why.

"Because you're chasing us you dump cat!" Yeonjun shot her his middle finger.

"You- you little-"

And then she sprinted towards them with a speed that could put any speed runner to shame.

"Oh, what do we have here?" A man around his late thirties muses as he watched the two girls dragged in five unfamiliar teens. One of them have his face bruised, daresay, quite badly. "Found new survivors, have we?"

The cat-like girl nodded. "I've checked. There's no sign of infection."

The man seemed pleased by the news as he gave her a nod. He then turn his gaze back to the teens. "Well, welcome to the North Camp. I'm Lim Jaebeom, the leader." As he spoke, his eyes fell on the ropes keeping the teens's hands tied behind their backs. He turn towards the two girls, raising a brow. "Yeji. I thought you said they were not infected."

"They're not." The girl they now know as Yeji confirms. This caused Jaebeom's brow to furrow.

"So then what's with the ropes?"

The girl shrugs. "Just thought that will save me a breath from having to chase after them. They run like rabbits being hunted."

That caused the five teens to shot their glare up at her.

"Oh, excuse me. Can we not feel terrified seeing your face that looks like you're about to murder us?" Beomgyu cried in incredulity to which the other four agreed.

Jaebeom turn to Yeji with a questioning brow raised. The girl feign innocence as she avoided the man's gaze. That caused the brown haired man to sigh tiredly at her. He turned towards the teens before untying them.

"My apologies for those two. They were raised in this kind of situation which forced them to survive against terrifying creatures, so they are uh.... a little.... barbaric."

"Hey!"

The man completely ignored Yeji's protest.

The teens were silent for a few moment, trying to digest the situation they were in right now, before Soobin spoke.

"No no. It's fine." His smile was warm, almost charming. "We were actually glad that they chased after our.... terrified selves. I mean, if not, we won't be here right now."

Seeing him trying to cover up for them (he would argue that he wasn't) even after how harsh she had handled him and his friends (?), Yeji stare at the boy for a moment before deciding that she liked him.

"So, may i know where are you from? Or how exactly did you five get here?"

The teens shot each other unsure looks. When they were confused as to what they should say, Soobin, as always, took over the speaking task.

"I'm sorry for the late introductions. We are from the Safety Camp."

The man seemed genuinely surprised.

"Safety Camp? But why would you be out here instead of staying inside of your camp?"

Soobin forced a smile. "The camp has fallen. Our camp was attacked by monsters."

"The Safety Camp.... attacked? But i heard that the camp was basically impenetrable to those monsters."

"We are not sure ourselves, sir. Though, our chief, camp leader, you can say, asked us to head south to find someone called.... ZINC."

At that the man froze.

"ZINC? You mean that mysterious researcher that lived in the South?"

The boy nodded, his smile masking his frown as he heard the man mumbled something that sounded like a, "but why?" It didn't take long before Jaebeom's face returned to it's friendly expression. Soobin did not have a good feeling about him.

"Lia." Jaebeom called to, who the teen assumed was, the sloth like girl. The girl called Lia then turned to him, her face was still dreamily smiling at who knows what. "Can you take the five of them to the rooms? I believe there are some that's still empty."

The girl simply nodded before turning to the teens. She gave them a smile that told them to follow her before she led them out of the lookout tent (the place where the two girls had brought the group of five to). Just as they were about to exit the tent, they could faintly hear the man say, "Yeji, you stay here." They shrugged it off.

When they exit the tent through the other side, the teens were in awe to see houses made above trees. They used torches to light the place up and there was a huge campfire in the middle of the empty grass field (where they could see several people were gathered).

Curious, Soobin then decided to asked their guide for more information on the camp they were in. "Hey... uh.."

"Lia." The girl said. Her tone was light and somewhat bright. It somehow gave them a sense of relieve. "I'm Choi Jisu, but you can call me Lia like everyone else."

Soobin nodded. "Alright, Lia. Can you tell me about this camp?"

The girl copied his action. "It is build by seven people. One of them is Jaebeom. He is their leader. Several chosen people would usually go on a run around the area every two days to see if we can find survivors or kill off some monsters. If needed, we will lock them up inside building ruins, in case Jinyoung, our researcher, needed them to experiment on the cure."

"So, what is it like? This camp, i mean." Yuna ask, which startle the boys as it was her first time initiating a conversation after what had happened in the camp. But they were glad. At least she finally talks.

"Hm. Not sure how to answer that question. But up until now, life here has been quite nice."

"I see." Yuna's tone shows hint of sadness. The boys didn't say it out loud, but they were pained seeing their youngest feeling so down like that. It was so different from her usually cheerful, energetic self.

But what can they say?

The situation was changing them.

And they can do absolutely nothing about it.