Camp Exodus

017 - Countdown

Jongdae and Baekhyun shared a look before they glanced around the area, eyes fluttering as they thought about what to do.

Three hours left, till what?

Baekhyun suddenly snapped his fingers, drawing everyone's attention

"When we got here, that Sehun kid looked kind of confused for a while. Maybe there's a possibility that the colours on this gate were actually different the first time he got here?"

"So that would mean that someone is actually changing the colours, and the kind of people who can come through each gate? But that would mean-" Jongdae's eyes widened. Baekhyun nodded at him.

"These gates must be electronic somehow, for them to be able to change colour after a given time limit."

"That may be the case, but even so, how can we possibly figure out who'll be allowed in next?" Chanyeol spoke up for the first time in a while. Jongdae folded his lips in thought, wishing that Kyungsoo, the mathematician out of the three was with them. Even though both he and Baekhyun were more than great with numbers, they would never be able to predict the next colours like Kyungsoo would.

"Yeol-ge! It is! Gege, look, it's Chanyeol ge!" The group of young men jumped at the sound of an excited voice entering and it wasn't long before Chanyeol was grabbed into a hug. The tall brunet slowly unwound himself from the bind as he sent his attacker a bemused look.

"Tao? How did you-" his statement was cut off, though, by the shrieking that followed when Baekhyun and Jongdae ran to capture someone behind Tao in a tight embrace. Chanyeol would have been irritated but it looked like this guy was the one they needed to get in. Kyungsoo.

The small male wedged his two friends off of him. Glad as he was to see them, he really hated phyiscal contact. Especially from more than one of these mental hyungs at a time. He didn't even get to speak as he was dragged forward by the pair.

"Wait-" Kyungsoo needed to tell them something.

"Look, Soo, we'll catch up once we figure this out. These gates are electronic somehow-"

"So the colours on them keep on changing. Baekhyunnie hyung found some of the passes that let us in-"

"Er, hyungs..." Kyungsoo glanced back at Tao, who sent him a panicked look, having suddenly noticed the clock that was counting down.

"'But Jongdae solidified my assumptions that more than one person has the same coloured sleeveband-"

"Hyungs-"

"That means that we can't be sure which pass goes to who nor the consequence of what happens if someone uses the wrong pass-"

"Seriously, we could really use with that math brain of yours to help us figure out-"

"Stop!" Kyungsoo yanked his arms away from both of them, panting from the physical strain. The two blinked at him, surprised.

"Soo..."

"Kyungsoo-yah..."

"I apologise. My behaviour was out of line, but we don't have time! I know about the gates. We can't open them directly though. We have to open all of them from one single point." Everyone in the area, including Luhan and Sehun who had just returned stared at him, shocked.

"What?"

~

Tao's grip on Kris' sleeve was still tight as he observed the large hole engraved into the stone. What the hell was this supposed to be? Moving closer for better inspection when he finally got Tao to let go, Kris reached out and felt around.