The five could only look at each other helplessly, not having any idea as to which direction they would take. As if whatever force that was out there wanted to mock them, an owl began to hoot.

A chill ran down Gen's spine,and it wasn't because of the exposed skin of her back.

Panic striking him, Kai pointed in a random direction and started running off, "I vote this way."

The others began to walk after him with raised eyebrows, but Gen stopped, causing Blair and Adam to halt as well. The three turned and saw Mira staring in the direction of the owl's voice, not moving from her spot.

Gen walked slowly walked over to her, "...Mira? Is something w-wrong?"

Adam's eyebrows furrowed from the lack of response, "You coming?" Maybe Mira was second-guessing the decision to stick with the group.

"She's just lonely," Mira frowned softly, not looking at them. Feeling sketched out -because, who wouldn't be?- Blair took a step back, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Who's lonely?" Adam slowly asked as Gen placed a hand Mira's shoulder, albeit hesitantly.

"The owl. She's lonely," Mira answered, before her face dropped as she realized what she'd said.

Adam scratched the top of his head in confusion, "Oh. Okay?"

"Why do I know that?" Mira asked, finally facing them.

Blair crossed her arms, "Uh..." She shifted her weight from one foot to another, not knowing where to start. Gen fiddled with her fingers before spinning around to face Adam, hoping for some sort of answer, even though they all knew he was just as clueless as them.

"Uh... You're Mira, you're good at puzzles, and apparently, speak 'owl'," he offered up, smiling at them. Gen smiled as she and Mira walked over to them, softly piping up, "Th-That sounds pretty great, don't you think?"

Blair uncrossed her arms and gave an awkward thumbs up.

"I'm starting to think I'm pretty cool," Mira slowly grinned, hooking her arm through Gen's; the girl fumbled before regaining her composure and grinning sheepishly at the ground. Blair smiled briefly before remembering the idiot who had ran ahead. "Our resident siren is still running, isn't he?" she dryly remarked.

Adam nodded in agreement, "We should probably go before Kai realizes he's all alone up there"

And then, from up ahead: "Hey! I'm all alone up here! Where are you guys?"

A satisfied smirk crossed Blair's lips as she started walking ahead, "Of course."

The others simply laughed and followed after her.

••••••••••••••••••••

The group of five had been walking through the woods for a while, and surprisingly Kai had taken the lead. Hope was running low considering there had proved to be no signs of life save for the habitats of the forest. Trailing behind the rest, Gen found herself frowning at their surroundings, meekly hoping that someone would appear before them and whisk them away from there.

"It's really creepy out here, huh?" Kai asked; he needed the sound of something besides the ever present hum of the crickets, or else he'd start losing it. Blair's eyes slowly slid back from their surroundings to his back, and she released a disinterested, "Hmm," in response. They'd been walking in silence for a while until he'd piped up, and she had really been hoping it'd stay that way.

"Like, really, really creepy. Wish we had a map," he looked over his shoulder at them before turning back and slipping through the gap of a fallen tree. "A map would be good right now because it's really, really--"

"Creepy?" Mira and Blair cut him off, irritated. With a heavy sigh, Blair shook her head and continued walking ahead, not caring much for the current situation. Maybe she should just try getting home herself, she thought. Wherever home was.

Gen winced, both from Kai's words and the tension slowly building up between the others. It hadn't taken long for her to realize that she absolutely abhorred confrontation and anything frightening, if her clinging onto others wasn't much of a sign.

Adam definitely noticed the tension as well, "Kai, just try to relax. There's gotta be a road nearby." He clasped a hand on the redhead's shoulder and walked off, Gen and Mira following. Just as Kai was about to follow suite, a gust of wind blew and there was a prominent crunch!!

"What was that?" he nearly shrieked as he ran after them; the group was suitably spooked by him. Gen gasped slightly and clung onto Adam's wrist, too surprised to be embarrassed; his gaze trailed to her hand, but he didn't remove it. Blair sighed sharply through her nose.

Mira gestured to the ground, "I stepped on a twig."

"Oh. Right, obviously, I knew that," Kai tried to play it off, and they began walking again.

The small tug at her hand reminded Gen of what she'd been doing, and she quickly began to apologize. She was cut short, however, when Adam shook his head and softly smiled down at her, "It's okay. Here." He grabbed the hand on his wrist and slid it down to meet his palm, mentally noting the contrast in hand sizes. Without another word, he began leading them after the others.

Staring at his back in shock, she felt a warmth spread across her face. Pushing her thoughts aside, Gen quickened her pace to match his and they walked side by side in companionable silence.

The boy only slightly smiled to himself when he felt her fingers hesitantly interlock with his.

••••••••••••••••••••

Owls were hooting overhead as the group continued their steady pace. Blair had reluctantly slowed her pace and let them catch up with her, internally coming to the decision to stick with them for the time being. So now, the four of them respectively -Blair, Mira, Gen, and Adam (still holding hands)- were leading the way while Kai followed behind in fear.

Kai called out from behind them, "Hey! We should probably check our pockets for a map." They stopped walking once again and turned around to see Kai turning his pockets inside out. A desperate attempt, Blair thought, rolling her eyes.

Gen scratched at her cheek with her free hand and wearily smiled at him, "Um, Kai... We've already checked, r-remember?" Kai gave her puppy-dog eyes, briefly flicking his gaze towards her left hand-- the one clasped to Adam's.

Mira whirled to face the redhead, "For the last time, we don't have a map."

"But we should check again. It wouldn't hurt," Kai continued, despite everyone knowing that their pockets were empty. The first time they'd searched them, they'd only found slips of paper with their names, after all.

"I swear to God--" Blair started, her hands curling into fists. Murder by scarf was tempting. So tempting.

"You'll definitely be hurting the next time you mention a map that we clearly don't have!" Mira almost yelled before walking off. With a silent huff, Blair followed after her, making sure to keep some space between them. Yes, they were both on the same page in regards to Kai's peskiness, but that didn't mean she exactly trusted or cared for the girl. It may have sounded cold, but she couldn't exactly see herself getting cozy with any of them.

This wasn't the time for campfires, after all.

Adam gave the boy a helpless half-shrug and walked after them alongside Gen; she aimed a half-smile to Kai over her shoulder. The boy gave up his antics and decided to follow, but there was another crunch!!

He froze, "You stepped on another twig, right?"

They all stopped and looked back at him. "Nope," Mira answered.

"Blair?"

She sighed and crossed her arms, "No." Her eyes trailed down to his feet.

"Gen?" A shake of the head. "Adam?"

"Not me," he said, and Gen noticed what had made the noise.

Kai threw his head back and shrieked, "Then what was it?!"

With a long-suffering sigh, Blair began to walk again. "Open your eyes," she shot over her shoulder. Mira rolled her eyes at the redhead and followed.

"And look down," Gen and Adam chorused, walking after the pair once again.

Kai hesitantly did so, and lifted his foot to reveal a broken twig. "I figured it out guys! It was just a twig I stepped on! No need to panic!" he called after them and started running to catch up.

Looking at the linked pair once again, Kai meekly clasped a hand around Gen's shoulder; she squeaked but allowed him to anyway.

Maybe the buddy system wasn't such a bad idea.

••••••••••••••••••••

The sound of rushing water soothed Gen's frazzled thoughts as she slid down the large rock, making sure to bunch her long skirt together. Adam was already waiting below on the ground, making sure they didn't get hurt.

With a small puff of air, Gen landed on her feet and walked over to the human safety-blanket; she hesitantly scooted closer to him, albeit more confident than the last time. He didn't mind, knowing how nervous the girl was by now. At this point, he had guessed that she was the anxious type based on previous actions.

"So, why us?" Mira asked as she climbed down and hopped to her feet.

"What do you mean?" Adam shot back.

"Why us five?" Mira elaborated as Blair hopped down and walked over to them. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and placed her hands on her sides, " I think what she means is, what makes us so special?"

Mira nodded, "We obviously don't know each other, so what other connection do we have?" There was a gasp, along with an "oof!!" and Blair looked over her shoulder to see Kai had fallen flat on his ass. Reluctantly, she walked back and helped him up; he shot her a thankful smile, blinking in confusion when she rolled her eyes and abruptly faced away from him, not spotting the slight blush on her cheeks. He didn't push it.

"What if we are connected somehow, but just can't remember?" Adam suggested, moving a branch out of the way. Blair wisely crouched under the swinging branch, slightly snorting at the sight of it swinging into Kai's nose with a thwack!!

"Oof! Hey! You wanna watch--oh!" He was thwacked once again, leaving him to grumble; Blair's shoulders shook slightly in silent laughter, and she had to wrap her scarf around her lower face for fear of her grin becoming visible.

They found a row of rocks in the river that made a path to the other side. "Without our memories, it's pretty much impossible to know," Adam said, agilely hopping from the first rock to the clearing on the other side, jumping over the other rocks in the process. Gen doubtfully glanced from her sandals to the rocks, knowing full-well that that wouldn't go over well.

Carefully, she stepped from one rock to the other and Adam, the sweetheart, held his arms out in case she fell. With a shy smile, she grabbed his outreached hands and pulled herself over, "Th-Thank you." He nodded and smiled before they both listened to Mira.

Mira was next on the rock path, "But how can all five of us not remember anything?"

Blair followed soon after, "Maybe we were drugged." Gen gulped audibly, prompting the blonde to retreat in her words, "I said maybe." She watched Kai fail to properly land on the first rock and mentally sighed.

"Maybe we have insomnia," he suggested once he'd made it across.

They stopped in their tracks. "I think you mean amnesia," Adam corrected the boy, or at least tried to. Kai chuckled and crossed his arms, " Uh, no. I slept really well, so I definitely don't have amnesia." He walked ahead of them, "Somebody needs to buy a 'theesorius'!"

Now Blair was considering strangling herself, if only to escape the pain of hearing Kai speak. "Thesaurus!" she and Adam shot back.

"Bless you!" Kai replied, attempting to climb over a fallen tree.

"Was he serious or was that a dad joke?" Mira asked them. Blair mentally cried at the thought.

"It's a major concern either way," Adam responded, prompting Gen to bite back a laugh.

"Whoa!" Kai cried after falling to the ground on the other side. They all laughed. "Guys?" he called them, suddenly sounding concerned. They followed after him and found out what the issue was.

There was chain link fencing ahead of them.

The five approached it. "Someone really doesn't want us going over there," Mira noted, seeing the barbed wire at the very top. "Or getting out of here," Adam stated; Gen bit her lip and shared a look with Blair.

Kai scowled, "Well, I'm getting out." He jumped up and grabbed at the fence, only to be electrocuted. "Ah!" he fell back and groaned.

"Kai!!" Gen shouted and ran over, helping him sit up; the others ran up as well. He was staring at his hands in surprise. Gen grabbed them and her face went slack in shock.

"Are you okay?" Adam asked once he'd arrived, and Blair nearly whacked him. Of course he wasn't okay, he'd just been electrocuted.

Kai simply held his hand out to them; there were no burns, no marks. Mira stuttered in surprise, "What? But, how?" Gen let go and Kai flipped his hands around, "I don't get it. My hands should be toast."

Despite the confusion, Gen sighed in relief, "I-It doesn't matter... As long as you're fine."

Blair nodded in agreement and cocked her hip to the side, "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

Kai raised an eyebrow and she facepalmed, "Just be grateful, idiot." Still, she couldn't help but look at his hands. He should've been fried.

"Okay. That is definitely weirder than my owl thing," Mira commented.

Kai stopped staring at his hands and furrowed his eyebrows, "What owl thing?"

Adam rose to his feet, "Come on, there must be a gate somewhere." The girls stood up as well and followed after him, "Wait up."

"Seriously, what owl thing?"

••••••••••••••••••••

"So you're telling me you understood what it said?"

They were walking alongside the fencing with the hope of finding the gate Adam had mentioned. It was taking some time, and what with Kai's constant questioning about "the owl thing", Mira found it better to explain what had happened.

"I don't know, okay?" Mira raised her hands and shrugged. "It was weird."

"You're weird," Kai blatantly pointed out. He received a glare from the girl, and the subject was dropped. "Look! There!" Adam spotted the gate ahead of them and they ran.

An impressively tall metal doorway stood before them. "The door's probably electrified too," Adam pointed at the voltage box and Blair sighed, before feeling her foot bump into something. "..?" her gaze fell to the dirt, revealing that she had nudged a rock.

Adam walked over and swiped it off the ground, contemplatively tossing it in his hand. Gen's eyes swiveled from the rock to the voltage box, "A-Adam...?" This was not a good idea.

"What are you gonna do?" Mira asked, not quite picking up on what Adam and Gen were thinking.

"Try not to die?" Adam sighed and started trying to bash the voltage box with the rock.

Kai crossed his arms and rolled his orbs, "Unless, of course, we're already dead." 'Someone's still bitter,' Blair internally jabbed as she rolled her own eyes.

The box sparked in protest and Gen squealed when a stray spark nearly caught onto her skirt; Mira chuckled when the girl sought refuge behind her back. Blair awkwardly patted the girl's head as a means of comfort. Adam grunted as Kai continued, "Any luck?" There was another clank, and when Adam once again drew his hand back, the rock crumbled to pieces.

Adam groaned, "Not yet." Blair sighed and started searching for rocks before her ears perked up. Blinking in confusion, she nudged the shortest, inadvertently nudging Mira as well. "Huh?" the three girls spun around to face the direction behind the group. Gen piped up from between the two, "Music...?" There was the faint sound of music coming far from the distance.

"You guys hear that?" Mira quietly told the boys before the three girls took off running. Gen would have lingered, but Mira had taken the initiative to wrap her hand around the shortest's wrist and pull her along.

"Where are you going?" she heard Adam call after them.

There was the sound of running footsteps and Kai sounded closer, "It could be people!"

And somehow, despite the growing distance between them, she heard Adam speak lowly to himself.

"It could be bad people."

••••••••••••••••••••

"Whoa," Mira pushed away some bushes from her face. The rest followed her example, revealing what looked like a cabin. It was ominous, what with the word "HAZARD" printed on the door. Small hazard lines ran under the word, as if to mock them. "What is this place?"

The five hesitantly walked through the foliage and approached the shack, crouching around the window to peer in; Gen crouched below the others to peek in through the bottom of the window, and Kai followed suit, causing the two to brush shoulders.

Neither seemed to notice the discreet blush on the other's face.

"Look at all that ancient stuff," Kai mumbled to the others. The room, as far as they could tell, was a wreck. Papers and test tubes were strewn across the floor and some trash cans were lying on their sides. The "ancient stuff" that Kai was referring to were probably the landline phones and old radio. "There might be a power switch for the electric fence in there!"

Mira walked over to the door and knocked, causing it to slowly push open, "Hello?"

Adam looked at her and rose back to his full height, "Mira, I'm not sure we should--"

"Too late," Mira smirked at him, following after the blonde who had already made her way inside. Gen stuttered out a 'wait' and stumbled after them, worrying over their rash behavior-- Blair's especially.

Adam sighed through his nose; Kai started heading inside, "What? You scared? Oh, no, oh, the shack, oh, so spooky." Adam rolled his eyes and followed them inside, his lips quirking up just the slightest from the sound of shy giggling. He shut the door behind them and the music was more present than ever. His eyes shot over to the active record player, where Gen was staring at the thing in confusion for reasons unknown to him.

There was a pricking sensation in back of her head as she continued to stare, but that was soon cut short upon the sound of glass shattering. Jumping about a foot into the air, she quickly spun around to see Adam sheepishly stepping away from a broken vial. "Sorry," he apologized to her, and she gave him a small smile in return before going back to crouching around the desk.

Adam picked up a hanging telephone receiver and attempted to use it, to no avail. "It's dead," he told the others.

"Like us?" Kai shot back from his own area.

"This place is a wreck." Blair crouched down and swiped up a paper, attempting to decipher the partially faded handwriting. "It must've been abandoned for a long time."

Gen suddenly hopped up, finally realizing what was wrong with the picture. "But," she glanced at the others, "there's no dust on the record that's been playing." She shrunk into herself as the others gave her shocked stares, partially due to the lack of stuttering on her part. Her face flushed and she opted to fiddle with her fingers.

"A-A-And how would the fence ˢᵗᶦˡˡ ᵇᵉ ᶜᵒⁿᵈᵘᶜᵗᶦⁿᵍ ᵉˡᵉᶜᵗʳᶦᶜᶦᵗʸ...?" her voice died down towards the end, confidence lost.

Adam walked over to a rack of test tubes, each filled with a different colored liquid. "Hey, what if... what if we're someone's experiments?" Blair walked over to him, tying her scarf around her waist. "What?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Like we're test subjects or something?"

"What?" Kai doubtfully retorted, "So some mad scientist with crazy white hair and a ridiculous accent made us?" He walked over to an old film projector, wildly gesturing as he spoke.

"Or took us..." Gen trailed off, joining his side in curiosity.

Mira fiddled with some dials on what looked like some sort of generator, "Or some shady organization?" She turned to Blair for input, and the blonde shrugged, "I still vote being maybe drugged." Gen playfully shook her head at the comment.

Adam continued with his ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶p̶i̶r̶a̶c̶y̶ theory, "It would explain this lab and why our memories are wiped." 'And how I heard you earlier,' Gen internally added.

Blair gave a thoughtful hum, "Maybe we had no memories to begin with."

"Maybe we're top secret government spies and just don't know it yet," Mira walked towards the center of the room and grinned, placing her hands on her hips. Gen puffed her cheeks and shook her head, lightly tapping the projector in protest. Kai understood what she was driving at. "I wish, but this stuff is really old and barely working," he sighed and pressed a button on the device. The girl in blue was pulled away with a startled yelp as the machine sparked and a roll of film fell off with a clank!!

"Why..." she quietly groaned as Kai helped her steady herself. "Sorry, but we're not experiments," he finished and they walked away from the metal beast.

"Huh," Mira pondered aloud, "You think we went back in time somehow?"

Blair shook her head, "Like Gen pointed out earlier, there's still electricity." Speaking of Gen, where had she and Kai disappeared to?

"No way," Adam immediately shook his head in dismissal to Mira's suggestion.

"You sound pretty confident," Blair blurted out, "Even if I agree with you."

Adam turned around and grinned, "Well, good to know I sound confident." Mira chuckled and rolled her eyes as Blair felt a slight smile twinge at her lips. Good to know the boy of steel wasn't, so, well, steeled. God, she was starting to sound like K--

"Guys, you need to check this out," Kai called to them from another room. Eyeing the doorway, she sighed. Of course, Kai had decided to open the ominous metal door framed with hazard lines, and of course he decided to drag Gen along. "G-Guys?" her voice came next, and the three shared a confused look before joining them.

The two were standing in a room with three steel cages, which would have been alright if the bars that had kept whatever inside weren't bent and broken outward. "Whoa," Adam breathed out.

Gen grabbed the arm of the nearest person --Mira-- and nodded, "I know."

Blair took a staggered step backward, "This can't be good."

"What was in there?" Mira asked them, her eyes refusing to leave the sight. Those were steel bars. Something, three somethings, had managed to break through steel bars.

"Don't wanna know!" Kai simply replied before bolting out of the shack. Well, then.

The four shared a wary glance before going back to the previous room and continuing to search for something, anything, that would be able to help them. Gen and Adam took on a set of pantry cabinets while Mira and Blair took on a set of filing cabinets. Things were silent for a bit until Kai burst back in screaming, "Are you guys coming?!"

"Calm down," Blair told him whilst rifling through a drawer.

"There might be something in here we can use," Adam explained while grabbing a first aid kit. Gen hummed in agreement, rummaging through the vials. "Or explain what happened to us," Mira added from her crouched position, picking through several files. Gen went to speak to Kai, but noticed a satchel hanging from a chair, "Huh?" Strange, she had definitely looked around that desk before.

She passed the bag to Adam and watched as he rummaged through it. "Anything?" Mira asked, walking over with Blair. He started to list each item as he held them up, "An old flashlight, wrench, a bunch of old keys..."

"I didn't see any locks in here," Blair mentioned.

Mira clasped Adam's shoulder, "Hey, one of them might open the gate."

"Great!" Kai piped up, still standing by the door. "Can we get out of here now? Before those whatevers find us?" Blair looked at him over her shoulder with a 'boi, if you don't' look.

Blair:

"A map," Adam interrupted, probably saving Kai's head in the process. He ran his finger along the folded section, "Look, the forest, this shack, there's the fence." He grinned and unfolded it, only for their smiles to drop at the site of an otherwise empty map.

"And nothing beyond it," Mira blankly stated.

Kai was already halfway out the door, "Come on, let's go!"

"Not yet." Adam closed the satchel and swung it across his shoulder. "Kai, look for a fence switch."

Kai opened the door wider, agitated, "Who made you the leader?"

Gen stepped forward and weakly raised a hand, "Guys..."

"I never said I was the leader," shaking his head, Adam rolled his eyes and turned to face the boy.

Kai made his way in and slammed the door shut, "Why should I listen to you?"

Gen flinched; Blair noticed, "Guys, seriously--"

Adam's voice began to raise, "Don't! Go if you want!"

'Too loud,' [1] Gen's shoulders began shaking and her breathing hitched.

"Can you keep it down?" Mira wrapped an arm around Gen's shoulders and got a weak smile in return. Blair patted her head, throwing the boys a sharp glare.

However, the boys didn't seem to notice what they were doing.

"He started it!" Kai claimed.

Adam flung his arms out, "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Kai threw back.

Gen clamped her hands over her ears, 'Too loud, too loud, too loud.'

"Please, be my guest!" Adam walked past him and swung open the door. "Continue running away, no one's stopping you!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Gen's breath was getting unsteady, and the arms and hand had disappeared.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Gen whimpered and fell into a crouch as a loud crash occurred. The boys stopped and turned around to see that Mira and Blair had thrown the record player at the wall.

"Quiet!/ Shut the hell up!" they screeched for the entire forest to hear.

Gen opened her eyes and looked around at the sound of snarling; no one else seemed to hear it, considering that Adam and Kai were staring at the girls in shock. Angrily, Blair gestured to the crouching brunette, and Adam and Kai's eyes immediately spotted her watery eyes.

"Gen, I--" Adam reached out to her, but she flinched and cut him off.

"It's fine..." she stood up and hugged her arms close to herself, "I'm fine."

Kai frowned,"But--"

"Please, just..." She inched closer towards the girls, who were still heaving in anger. "Just forget it."

They were all silent, save for the heavy breathing of two and the distant howling that seemed to be growing close.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Kai began, "'Cause, seriously, I will leave you here... in a few minutes." Blair smacked her head against the desk, gaining a weak chuckle from Gen.

"You okay...?" she asked the taller girl, getting a weak 'I'll manage' in response.

"Hold up," Adam sighed in irritation, walking off to look around again.

"We just wanna make sure we're not missing anything in here," Mira continued, placing her hands on her hips.

Kai looked around at them, "Okay, then, nice knowing you!" He swung the door shut.

Gen frowned, staring out the window to make sure he was alright out there.

Mira looked at the rest, "Adam, maybe we should--"

"You can go with him if you want," Adam cut her off, searching through a desk drawer.

Blair sighed and stood up, heading for the door, "As idiotic as he is, he shouldn't be out there alone." She made it a point to ignore the proud smile Gen shot towards her; she left.

As they restarted their search for things, Gen drummed her fingers along her arms, "H-Hey, have you guys been hearing snarling too...?"

They glanced at her in confusion, and she shook her head, "N-Nevermind, then."

Meanwhile, outside, Kai was pacing around and ranting to himself/Blair. Keep in mind that she was an unwilling audience. "Adam thinks he's so smart." Their heads shot up at the sound of faint barking and they looked at each other.

Inside the shack, three heads perked up.

"T-Tell me it's not still me," Gen warily told them, placing down a folder she had found.

"It's not still you," Mira told her, abandoning the filing cabinet she'd been rooting through.

"Dogs?" Adam guessed.

"Whatever they are, they are not happy," Mira paled.

"So, you're a 'whatever' whisperer too?" Adam asked, and Gen hastily grabbed his hand and pulled him toward Mira before the three were running out of the lab, Gen's hands linking them together.

They found Kai hiding behind Blair as the two warily gazed in the direction the barking was coming from. "Any ideas?" Blair shot over her shoulder.

"I don't suppose you guys found any big muzzles in there, did you?" Kai meekly asked from behind the blonde, peering over her shoulder.

"Adam..." Gen warned, tugging at his hand.

"Don't think they'd let us put them on, dude. Come on!" He spun the the male around; Kai gripped Blair's arm and the five started running in the opposite direction.

Up ahead, they spotted the gate; a wave of electricity ran over the voltage box, and Blair cursed, "The gate!"

"We never shut it off!" Mira realized.

Meanwhile, the creatures had burst into the lab, growling.

Devil Dogs:

The five teens stopped short of the gate and Adam desperately rummaged through the satchel.

"What are you gonna do?" Mira and Gen chorused.

He finally found the wrench and threw it at the fence, "Short it out!"

That plan was cut short when the wrench came flying back to his face --"AH!"--, knocking him back into Gen and them both onto the ground. The wrench landed on the ground unperturbed.

"Ah," they both grunted, trying to sit up.

"Ooh!" Mira winced. "That hurt?"

They both managed to separate their limbs from one another and sit up; Adam rubbed his forehead while Gen gently tried to bat his hands away so she could see it, "You obviously speak forehead, too."

"We found the power switch!" Kai happily yelled, and they all turned to see him and Blair standing next to a tree which, lo and behold, had the power switch connected to it. Despite their differences, the two high-fived as he shut the power off.

Gen simply smiled at the pair, registering the distant sound of a faint 'beep!!' She and Adam helped each other off the ground. "Couldn't have found it ten seconds earlier, huh?" he practically groaned, slightly flinching when the brunette hesitantly brushed her fingers over his forehead. It was a familiar gesture, for both parties, so maybe that's why she wasn't blushing so much.

Blair had a shit-eating grin as she and Kai walked over, "Oopsie." Gen puffed her cheeks and lightly scolded her, getting a patronizing pat on the head in return.

The barking was getting closer.

"The keys! Hurry!" Mira urged, and Adam rustled the ring of keys out of the bag. He slipped the first one in, and it was a bust.

The devil dogs were getting closer.

"Come on, come on!" he continued to switch between keys.

"Hurry! They're gonna eat us alive!"

"Kai!!/Not helping!" Gen and Adam said at the same time. Blair wasted no time and punched him in the arm.

Still getting closer.

"Find the key!" Kai yelled, and Blair swiped up the wrench from the ground, preparing for the worst. "I'm trying!" Adam shot back, slipping a golden key into the keyhole. He wiggled it, and to their luck the door unlocked. He pushed the door open, "Got it!"

"Yes!" Mira cheered; "Come on!" the four ran past him and to the other side of the gate.

Noticing that he wasn't following, the girls slid to a stop.

"Adam!" Mira and Gen cried out, and the three noticed that he was trying to get the key out of the door. "The keys are stuck! Don't wait for me!" he yelled back at them.

"I won't!" Kai assured him, continuing to run away while Mira chose to wait for him, albeit hesitantly.

Blair was about to follow the redhead's example until she spotted a blur of blue heading the other way. Gen was now helping Adam with the keys. "Goddammit!!" she cursed and ran over, raising the wrench above her head.

The dogs were less than two feet away when the closest got a flying wrench to the cranium. It flew back into the blonde's hand and she huffed out a 'Bad dog' just as the door was slammed shut by the other two. They flew to the ground from the force of the dogs throwing their weight against the door, but Adam managed to swipe the keys off the ground.

" Got them!" Gen panted out, the tails of her shirt's ribbon flying over her shoulders from her standing so abruptly. She started tumbling (damn sandals), so Adam picked her up by the waist and started legging it with Blair. "Let's go!" they shouted at Mira, Blair grabbing her wrist as they passed by.

Kai was running while looking over his shoulder when he suddenly began to take a tumble, "Oh!" His arms were grabbed in the nick of time, and he opened his eyes to see the rocks where his feet had been tumble down off of the cliff and into the rushing waters below. Did I mention they were on a cliff?

Kai was pulled back and Gen was placed on her feet. "Of course. Where else would you build a secret devil dog lab but at the edge of a cliff?!" Kai ended up yelling into the night sky. "What do we do now?" he asked, voice squeaking.

Adam looked behind them and saw the dog beginning to dig a hole beneath the fencing. He sucked in a breath and faced the water, "We have to jump!"

The others were quick to reel on him.

"What?!" Mira cried.

"We can't jump!" Kai and Blair cried in unison. Gen switched her gaze between him and the water, internally sobbing. "Adam..." she uneasily murmured.

"We'll never make it!" Mira continued.

"She's right!" Almost all of them screamed in reaction to the new voice, and they turned to the left. "You'll never make it." the man standing on the rock mockingly droned, his back to the five. And then there was a barrage of questions.

"Uh, who are you?"Mira and Gen.

"Where are we?" Blair and Adam.

"Is that your lab?" Kai.

The man laughed, "So many questions! You really have no clue, do you?" He finally turned to face them, narrowing his eyes behind his sunglasses.

The Weird Guy:

"Then again, I'm not surprised." He tucked his flowing scarf away, and Blair found herself clenching the wrench tighter. "I assume you'd like some help, hmm?"

"Yes!/Help us!" Mira and Kai cheered/plead, but the rest remained wary. He was suddenly in front of them, "Excellent! Oh. One teensy-weensy, little, tiny, little, teensy-weensy little thing." His shades slid down and his voice became serious, "It's gonna cost you." He fixed his shades to cover his eyes, and Gen wrapped herself around Adam's arm.

"Cost us what?" he asked.

The Weird Guy cackled to himself and spun around, clapping his hands, "So then, uh, do you want my help or... not?" He was avoiding the question, and he had no intention of hiding it.

The five turned and saw the devil dogs slip through the hole they had dug and begin to run over to them. The grown man leaned closer and grinned, "Well?"

Kai snapped back to face him, "Yes. Definitely! Whatever it takes!"

"Excellent!" He leaned back and readjusted his coat. "I am pleased to be of assistance and will gladly help you." He bowed and looked up, still grinning despite the danger of the situation. "But first, the magic word." Blair physically deadpanned, if possible.

"Magic word? Oh, come on!" Kai nearly screeched.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked desperately.

"You think this is some kind of game!" The man's entire head spun around completely, and he angrily pointed at them, causing them to lean back in fear. "What's the magic word?" he yelled in their faces.

The dogs were less than five feet away from them.

"Please! Help, please!" Gen and Adam yelled.

With a satisfied smirk, the guy leaned back and snapped his fingers. A swirling vortex of light appeared beneath the five, sounding like a swirling tornado and crashing lightning all at once. "What's happening?" Adam yelled over the noise.

The dogs leapt for them, and they were suddenly gone.

••••••••••••••••••••

In the sweltering desert, a portal appeared and dropped five screaming teenagers to the sand. Almost all of them were passed out, save for Adam. Weakly turning onto his back, he slowly blinked at the sight of two minotaurs standing over them.

"Besack nomo sento?"

One leaned down and sniffed him, before angrily crying out, "Nemasoo! Toros Binatto ocroo!"

The sound of their malicious laughter faded from existence as he blacked out.

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[1] This is for a legitimate reason, you'll see why later.