— after lunch

jang-soo opened the door and shouted, "lets go!," leading the classes out to the school grounds. the students pushed against the soldiers who were trying to keep them back. "why these little..." cursed the old man at the front before firing his gun at the sky. "yah! doing this won't do you any good. you won't get any extra points for our college entrance exams," shouted the old man, waving his pistol around. "what good does staying here do, old man? just let us go home!," shouted ji-wan. "you'll get penalty points, you punk," shouted the old man, waving his pistol in ji-wan's face. "okay?...let's go!," she shouted as the students started to push against the soldiers again.

"what do you think you're doing? go back inside now!," shouted lt.lee, appearing out of nowhere. of course he has to make a grand entrance wherever he goes. the students stopped when hearing the lieutenant's voice. "don't this won't change anything. hurry back inside!," shouted sergeant won-bin. "why should we? we aren't even solideres," bo-ra retaliated, her grip on ji-wan's hand tightening a bit. "i already told you. this is all for your go—" lt.lee was cut off when so-yoon shouted, "we don't need any of this! if it's for our sake, let us go. why can't we have anything our way?," she asked. the lieutenant stared at so-yoon, speechless. "what are you waiting for? force them back inside if you must!," he shouted, making hell break loose once again.

in the middle of everyone screaming, a loud crash sounded from in front of them. the impact of the sphere against the ground sent everyone at the front crashing to the floor and made the ones at the back cower. ji-wan stumbled backwards but bo-ra caught her just in time and put her arm around ji-wan protectively. once everyone had regained balance, they stared at the sphere. the dust particles covered the sphere like a thick fog as the soldiers put themselves in front of the students and put their rifles up. even with the fog of dust, ji-wan could see the glowing purple colour of the sphere. "go back inside. quickly!," shouted lt.lee. the familiar screeching of the spheres sent everyone into a craze as they started back away.

ji-wan's heart started to sink once she saw the smaller spheres start to crawl at them at a high speed. the soldiers started shooting at the spheres everywhere but there were just too many. everyone screamed and started running away when a sphere latched itself onto a soldier's face. ji-wan quickly lost sight of her classmates when students from every room started getting mixed up. ji-wan looked back once before she started running as well. ji-wan sprinted towards the stairs for the main building entrance but suddenly she felt winded when she bumped into someone and fell down. the girl quickly scrambled onto her feet, running straight towards the stairs when she noticed chi-yeol running next to her.

the two of them were thrown backwards when another sphere fell down right in front of them. ji-wan crawled backwards when she heard high pitched screeching. "chi-yeol, run!," she shouted before scrambling to her feet. since the sphere landed in front of the stairs, ji-wan ran the only way that she could without getting devoured by the spheres. ji-wan ran backwards. into the grounds. as she ran, some people bumped onto her shoulder, knocking her off course. ji-wan screamed when a sphere appeared in front of her, making her turn to her side and run to the right. ji-wan found herself inside a tent with woo-taek. yeon-joo, soo-chul and two dead bodies. ji-wan tried running through the tent but stopped when a sphere wrapped its tentacles around yeon-joo's ankle.

ji-wan breathed heavily, looking around for anything to use. she then grabbed a dark green case and smashed the sphere. the sphere screeched and let go of yeon-joo before it started crawling towards ji-wan. in fear, ji-wan fell backwards. fuck. ji-wan was doing everything that you shouldn't when you're getting attacked by alien spheres. thankfully sergeant won-bin showed up just in time and shot the sphere. soo-chul quickly ran towards ji-wan and helped her up. "ji-wan! let's go!," he shouted as the two started running out the tent but then fell on their backs when they crashed into a girl.

ji-wan felt as if she had froze over when she saw woo-taek being dragged by a sphere. within seconds, the sphere leaped onto woo-taek's face. "woo-taek!," shouted ji-wan, tears springing up into her eyes as she scrambled onto her feet. "woo-taek!," soo-chul shouted, starting to run towards the boy. "it's on his face! just go!," shouted sergeant won-bin, taking aim at woo-taek's head. "kill it!," screamed ji-wan, trying to run at woo-taek but soo-chul was holding the girl back. "no! woo-taek, please! get up!," cried ji-wan, trying to run at him. it hurt her to see woo-taek, squirming on the floor helplessly as another sphere latched itself onto him. "take her away, you punk!," shouted sergeant won-bin.

ji-wan screamed her lungs out when two more spheres latched themselves onto woo-taek's body. "no!," she screamed, clawing at soo-chul's arm to try to free herself but then her face fell when woo-taek's body went limp. she looked up at the sergeant with crazed eyes before soo-chul started pulling her away. ji-wan's legs lead her away but her eyes never leaveing woo-taek's body. her heart shattered into a million pieces when she heard the rapid firing from inside the tent. "woo-taek," ji-wan cried but she knew deep down that it was too late. soo-chul and ji-wan lost each other in the middle of the chaos and ji-wan was on her own again.

ji-wan had a straight path to the stairs up to the building. she started running but just as she was running past the trucks, she heard a high pitched screeching from her right. ji-wan looked to her right to see a sphere crawl up the truck and jump onto her. she gasped as the sphere jumped onto her shoulder which sent her rolling onto the ground. the sphere wrapped its tentacles around ji-wan's wrists and it hovered over her face. she found the strength to push the sphere from attacking her face despite its tight grasp. it gave her a closer view to the sphere's mouth and insides. disgusting. ji-wan screamed as the sphere's tentacles wrapped around her neck. she felt her breath slowly get stuck in her throat and the sphere coming closer to her, centimetres away from her face. bang. ji-wan felt her hands relax as the sphere blew up in her hands.

ji-wan sat up and placed her hand around her neck, taking ragged breaths before she looked to her left to see na-ra lowering her rifle. na-ra ran up to ji-wan and crouched next to her, "are you okay?," she asked, looking down at the bruising marks around ji-wan's neck and wrists. ji-wan looked past na-ra and saw many of the spheres around the grounds started to make their way towards them because they were pretty much the only ones there.

"we need to go," ji-wan said, getting onto her feet before grabbing na-ra's wrist and helping her up before the two started running. the girl dropped the rifle, looking back at the grounds that were crawling with spheres and running with ji-wan. ji-wan looked back to make sure na-ra was ok and they made eye contact, just as something else caught ji-wan's eye. a sphere in the sky that was so far away before, now looked to be getting closer and closer by the second. ji-wan's eyes widened, the speed that they were going right now, they would never make it in time. "i'm sorry!," shouted ji-wan, the two of them inching closer to the doors of the building. na-ra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she stared at the back of ji-wan's head. na-ra was pushed forwards by ji-wan just as the front of the building came crashing down.

na-ra fell to the ground, inside the building. na-ra groaned before coughing due to the debris and dust caused by the fallen structure. the girl sat up, looking around to see if ji-wan was ok. but ji-wan was nowhere to be seen. "ji-wan?," called out na-ra. "jang ji-wan!," shouted na-ra, getting the attention of her classmates. the students looked around frantically until bo-ra spotted ji-wan. "over there!," she shouted. bo-ra and na-ra rushed over to the unconscious girl. ji-wan was bleeding from a gash in her head somewhere, there was a bit of blood spilling out from her head and trickling down the side of her forehead. "ji-wan...yah, jang ji-wan. wake up," bo-ra panicked, patting her cheek. na-ra was on the other side of the girl, "ji-wan, wake up...please," whispered na-ra, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes.

the rest of the students boarded up the glass doors with chairs and tables. when ji-wan started to stir, there was a high pitched ringing sound in her ears. her blurred vision started to clear up seconds after she opened her eyes. ji-wan groaned, putting her hand on her head. a sense of panic flooded her through her body when she withdrew her hand and saw it covered with blood. her eyes flickered between na-ra and bo-ra who looked just as panicked as her. they had no time to stand around however because their classmates started running towards the dormitory. bo-ra quickly pulled ji-wan onto her feet before the three girls started running.

it seemed like all the girls from class 3-2 arrived at their dorm at the same time. there was a thick tension in the atmosphere as the girls threw on their gear and grabbed their rifles. there was a trickle of blood running down ji-wan's left eyebrow. she reached up and wiped the blood off her head with her hand. "oh what the fuck," she mumbled to her self, wiping the blood on her white school shirt, staining it in the process. ji-wan looked up, across the room, bo-ra helped ha-na with her helmet. "don't leave me behind," said ha-na as bo-ra clipped the latch of her helmet on. "i won't," replied bo-ra. even though there was no time to be feeling...jealous? ji-wan couldn't help her heart feeling any other way. the only question was, why was she jealous?

"i think you need to get your head wrapped...'' na-ra said, coming up to ji-wan. "no...no, it's fine. there's no time," she said. na-ra looked at her with worry but even she knew that there was no time left. so, na-ra grabbed ji-wan's helmet from the desk and put it on her head. "once we get out of here, i'll patch you up," na-ra said, clipping ji-wan's helmet. "okay," smiled ji-wan. na-ra smiled back, pushing ji-wan's curtain bags out of her face. and there it was again. that funny feeling. the butterflies in her stomach and her racing heart. but there was no time for that. "ji-wan-ah," yoo-jung said in a hurry, passing her a rifle and some ammunition. "we need to go," said the platoon commander.

soon, the class was rushing down the stairs on high alert. they all came to a stop at the glass doors at the back of the school. ji-wan looked outside, it was probably not a good idea because there were corpses everywhere. corpses of the students she went to school with. high school seniors just like her. the grounds were still crawling with the spheres and there were more up in the sky, ready to fall any second. "squad one, get in the car in the front. squad two, get in the car on the left. do not look behind, and run as fast as you can," instructed lt.lee. ji-wan stood behind hee-rak on sergeant won-bin's side. she had no idea where she was supposed to go but she just needed to follow her classmates in front of her and she would be fine.

"na-ra, jang-soo. give me cover fire," he said. the two students nodded. ji-wan jumped when lt.lee started firing all of a sudden. her heart seemed to be working over time, pounding inside her chest at any given moment. lt.lee and sergeant won-bin jogged out, shooting at the spheres, na-ra and jang-soo following behind them. "run!," shouted lt.lee once the area was clearer than before. once hee-rak started running, ji-wan followed him, running to the truck at the front whereas the others ran to the one to the left. once ji-wan jumped into the truck, she put her hand out to help the rest of them get into the truck. "soon-yi! hurry up!," shouted ji-wan, putting her hand out but soon-yi started to tear up.

"jang-soo! get her in the car!," shouted sergeant won-bin. jang-soo ran to the girl and picked her up easily before lifting her up. ji-wan quickly grabbed soon-yi's arm and pulled her up into the truck. "sergeant!," shouted ji-wan as the truck started to drive away. the students at the back started reaching out for him but he ran off into another direction, towards the truck to the left. everyone in the truck started to settle down as they drove away. but why wasn't the other truck driving away? ji-wan looked around and realised that bo-ra and na-ra were on the other truck.