There were five minutes before school started, and when I barreled into the school, people were still roaming the halls. I blindly maneuvered through the crowded corridors, on the verge of tears, looking for Taehyung or Jimin. We had to get everyone out of the school now.

I momentarily thought of summoning Jimin, but with a pained wince, I remembered that I couldn't anymore. My desperation and panic heightened, and I began shoving my way around people quicker and more forcefully. I had to find them before my mother attempted anything, I just had to.

"Sori!" I finally found Taehyung at his locker at the far end of the school. He approached me with worried eyes. "What happened?"

"She... She disowned me," I gasped. I wasn't winded from the sprint to school, since my body had ceased to function like a normal human's and feel fatigue, but I was becoming overwhelmed with anxiety. I clutched at Taehyung's hands with panicked whimpers. "She's going to come to school, I just know it. I don't know how fast she's gonna get here, but everyone has to get out now."

Taehyung furrowed his brow. "Okay, let's get the principal and tell him to evacuate everyone," he said. "I'll do the talking."

I nodded, dazedly, as he started down the hall with me in tow.

"We can't split up," he murmured. "It's too dangerous now."

As we passed other students, Taehyung quietly muttered to them to get out and to safety, which caused a handful of students every here and there to walk towards the exits, as if in trances. I trembled as we dashed through the halls and into the principal's office.

The principal was just pouring himself a cup of hot tea when Taehyung flung the door open, which ricocheted off the wall loudly. The principal, who was a small, portly man, jumped in surprise, some of the boiling water sloshing out of the cup and onto his suit. He set the mug down and brushed off his suit, huffing and glaring at the two of us.

"May I help you?" he asked stiffly.

"Sorry," Taehyung apologized. I glanced at him. He cleared his throat and said, "We have to get everyone out and to safety right now. Someone is out to kill all of us."

The principal didn't panic. His eyes just seemed to glaze over, and he turned and picked up the microphone to the PA. He spoke in a monotone, yet his voice was still commanding enough.

"Attention, staff, please evacuate the students," he said. "Code four. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

He took his finger from the button and turned back to us and nodded at Taehyung.

"Get everyone to safety and defend the school," Taehyung continued. "You know what to do, right?"

The principal nodded blankly before melting into the shadows. I gaped in surprise at where he was once standing, but before I could stare for too long, Taehyung was already pulling me out of the office. I tripped over my feet as I followed him, and when we got to the foyer, it was starting to clear out. Students were slowly filing out, since the hallways were so narrow, and it was still relatively crowded.

"What do we do now?" I asked, halting.

Taehyung glanced at the ceiling. "We need to leave," he said. "Hopefully by the time your mother gets here, the school will be completely empty."

"But..." I didn't know what I planned to do. I wanted something, but it wasn't this. Of course, safety was important, but what about closure? It seemed so petty compared to my own life, but was I just going to leave and let my mother go on her rampant without me? I needed some sort of resolution to feel safe.

It didn't matter what I wanted, anyways. The front entrance to the school burst open, strange men in dark colors swarming inside like ants. They all carried guns and swords of silver, as well as other weapons on their belts. A scream escaped my throat as well as many other's, and I jumped back into Taehyung, and the school exploded into chaos.

"Monster hunters!" Taehyung shouted, running in the other direction, where everyone was filing out. "Everyone, get out!"

His charm didn't work because it was too loud, but that was exactly what everyone did anyways. He dragged me across the school and I staggered after him in a clumsy run, casting a look backwards. Humans were crashing through the entrances now, waving around legendary weapons for destroying monsters. Shock was slicing up my body, and I finally laid eyes on my mother, who was among them. She wielded no visible weapon, but she wore an equally dangerous expression. I tore my eyes from her face before she could see me, and I picked up the pace to leave the foyer.

Already, screams of pain were ringing out. I gasped in panic and anguish as I recognized voices. My own classmates were being slaughtered around me, and all I could do was run. Taehyung maneuvered the hallways with ease, and I had no idea where he was taking me. My breath was shallow in my throat, and I couldn't keep my head from swimming with absolute terror. My extremities were going cold, and it was all I could do to follow Taehyung and to not collapse on the ground and cry.

From an adjacent corridor, the athletics hallway, a pack of teenage boys burst into the open in their sports gear, snarling and howling. My eyes widened as I recognized them. They were the same twelve boys that had shoved me into the janitor's closet, but this time, I felt nothing but awe and worry as I saw them lope in the direction we'd come from.

"Make them sorry that they ever tried to attack us!" yowled a deep voice, and they disappeared after turning a corner.

"Where are they-?"

"Don't mind what they're doing," Taehyung called as he sprinted. "We're getting out of here. Your mother will be out for you now."

I bit my lip in an effort to suppress tears and nodded. We rounded a left turn, entered an empty classroom, and there was a staircase leading into the ground. Taehyung closed the door behind us and ushered me partially onto the stairs. I sat on the second step from the floor and threw a nervous glance at the door before looking back at Taehyung.

"What is this?" I asked, looking around. The classroom seemed to be completely bare.

"This is one of the emergency exits," Taehyung explained. "The stairs lead to the basement, and in the basement, there's a door to the underground subway station."

I nodded dully. "Should we help people get out from here then?"

"No, we're hiding here," Taehyung said. "There are multiple exits like this all over the school, so don't worry. Monsters can take care of themselves."

"I hope they're okay..." I slipped my backpack off. From its contents, I picked out the knife. It gleamed, even in the dim light of the classroom. "I can't believe I was supposed to do this."

"You never wanted to," Taehyung chided gently, smiling softly. "You're the one who warned us, anyways."

I glanced up and took a good look at him. It had been a while since I really noticed and appreciated him. Everything had become a whirlwind of events I could barely keep up with, and I hadn't had time to spend too much time with him.

His hair just dusted the ends of his eyelashes as he stared at the ceiling nervously, and I quickly realized that he was scared too, which was an almost foreign concept to me. The whole time I'd known him, Taehyung had always been the assuring, cool type. He knew what he was doing and what he wanted, and I was the one always seeking support. But now, I could tell that he was holding back fear and trying to stay calm for my sake.

"Taehyung," I said, "you're scared too, right?"

He kept his eyes glued to the ceiling for a moment, but then he managed to peel them away and look at me. The corners of his mouth tugged into his usual rectangle smile. It was just like the first day of school again, when I had been ignorant of everything going on in this school. So many things had changed since then.

"I am," he admitted, nodding, "but it's okay. I've learned to deal with it."

I frowned. "Why?" I asked. "It's okay to be scared, you know."

"I know," he replied softly. "I just don't want to be."

His dark eyes were troubled, and he now stared listlessly at the ground. Something was clouding behind his irises, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. He played with the hem of his shirt nervously, and I studied him.

I didn't want to press him about it, but it was clear that it was something that had grown from his past. The expression he wore told me that he was deep in memory, and I knew better than to pry at the moment. It was clear to me anyways. I could relate, in a way.

The fear he must have felt when his parents were murdered right in front of him. It wasn't just any run-of-the-mill haunted house scary movie fear; it was so much more than that. It was the realization that you'd just lost something you could never replace, and that it really happened. It was like watching someone cut your own lifeline. The horror and dread of what was happening and what was to come was a feeling that could haunt you forever.

"Taehyung," I said again, snapping him out of his daze. "I know, but it's okay. Please don't bottle things up."

He swallowed hard. "I can't help it," he replied hoarsely, his eyes wide with anxiety. "I don't want to lose control. I have to depend on myself."

"You can depend on me..." I trailed off. The others depended on me, too. I could still hear the shouts from outside, meaning that some students had taken up the fight against the monster hunters. I had to go help them. One more person could make a difference, right?

"Where are you going?"

I looked at Taehyung, confused, but then I realized that I was standing now.

"I... We should help the others, right? Not all of them have left."

"No, no, no," Taehyung replied, quickly standing up and pushing me back down with his hands on my shoulders. They were warm. He embraced me in a hug, and he exhaled into my shoulder. "Please, just stay here. It won't do anyone any good if you go out there and get killed."

Tears suddenly flooded my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his torso. It wasn't that I thought I was going to die, but suddenly, my mortality was evident to me, and I thought that if I was going to die, having my last moments with Taehyung wouldn't be so bad.

"Thank you for keeping me safe," I whimpered, crying into the fabric of his shirt. "Thank you for always looking out for me. I know I'm a burden, but thank you for always being there for me, Taehyung."