It was quarter past ten. Mingyu had just volunteered to go out with Hoshi and Wonwoo to buy a few snacks for the film, as it became apparent that the ones they planned to eat were already gone.
"I can't believe Seungkwan told people that those were just 'after dinner' snacks." Hoshi huffed as he walked briskly down the path, trying to keep up with the others. Mingyu gave a little laugh, hiding a grin behind his hand. "What are you…" The small blonde boy asked, squinting at the taller member in the dim light. "Don't tell me that you ate some!" He said disapprovingly, tugging on Mingyu's sleeve. Just as a small play fight began between the two, a street light flickered violently ahead of them, causing the boys to snap out of it.
"What was that?" Wonwoo asked, turning his attention away from the other boys. "It was just that light over there." Hoshi reassured, gesturing over to it. As he did so however, the light bulb fizzed and blew out completely, leaving the path ahead of them virtually pitch black. The next street light could be seen about 15 metres or so away, but was at the end of a dark alley way. The three boys stood paralysed to the spot. Mingyu could feel Wonwoo's hand cling on to his arm, but he turned just in case, to check it was him. The boy's expression was blank as he turned to look back in the direction of where they had just come. "Maybe we should just run through it, you know, get it over with quickly." Wonwoo stated, turning back to face the alley way ahead of them. Mingyu agreed, but Hoshi wasn't so sure. "I don't know guys… It looks really creepy, and I think there's a cross section in the middle of it. What if someone's waiting down there?" That statement seemed to send a chill down each of their spines. But Mingyu wasn't too phased by it. "Oh come on, there's three of us, let's just run. We'll be fine once we get to the shops." Just as the boys all agreed to go ahead with the plan, Hoshi let out a great sigh. "Oh no… I left the money on the table!" He said, after rummaging through his pockets. "I'm really sorry guys, I'll just run back and get it, won't be a sec." Mingyu reached out to grab the boy by the arm, but he was already off. "Just wait there! By the lamppost, I'll be five minutes tops!" He shouted back, gesturing to the last light that they had walked past. After several seconds, the blonde boy was gone. Wonwoo tugged on Mingyu's sleeve. He was shivering, the younger noticed, but looked up at his fellow member with a look of bravery. "Five minutes tops." He said.
Mingyu looked at his watch. Almost ten minutes had gone by since Hoshi had left, and still no sign of him. "Maybe we should start heading back?-" Wonwoo asked, looking back in the direction of their dorm and rubbing his arms to warm himself up. But as he finished however, the sound of a twig snapping caused both boys to immediately spin around. Nothing. Or at least that's what Mingyu thought. Wonwoo could have sworn that he'd seen something moving in the darkness of the alley. "Come on, let's go." The older boy persisted, this time with a little more urgency. Mingyu shook his head. "Let's give it a couple more minutes. It won't take him that much longer." He stated, looking down at the clock on his phone. "Okay, but then we go home, this is starting to give me the creeps-" Wonwoo started, but was cut off by a deep, stomach churning growl. It was almost as if the thing it came from was a rabid animal, and it no longer wanted to wait before chowing down on its prey. Mingyu could hear the sound of a trash can being knocked over as he peered down the same alley that they had been waiting by. This situation just screamed run. He knew it did, but Mingyu couldn't help being curious. He wondered what had knocked over the trash can. "Mingyu… Let's go. Now. Please, Mingyu don't!" Wonwoo cried out in a harsh whisper. But his band mate had already started to walk forwards. "One second." He said, quickly turning on the torch on his phone. It wasn't the best, but he was now able to see what was a metre or so in front of him, which was much better than before. "Mingyu!" Wonwoo said, a bit louder this time. It made no difference. He watched the boy walk on, until he was suddenly jerked backwards by a hand covering his mouth.
Mingyu approached the middle of the alley, and flashed his light to the left, then the right. He spotted the metal lid of the trash can lying on the floor. There was no sign of anyone there now though, and he felt more reassured. "Hey, it's alright, there's nobody… here." The boy immediately stopped. As he turned around, he expected to see Wonwoo standing there, but he wasn't. Instead he heard another clatter come from right beside him, near the bins. "Wonwoo...? Is that you?" He whispered, a sudden race in his heartbeat. Another growl broke out from the darkness, and the boy was greeted with a horrifying sight. A man was standing roughly 3 metres away from him, small, hunched over, but intimidating all the same. He stared at Mingyu with two crazed, hollow eyes, which looked as if they were staring right into his soul. But the thing that stood out the most about this being, was not his torn clothing and drunken stance, but his whole demeanour. He appeared to be angry. Like he was ready to beat Mingyu to a pulp. The boy in question just stared back for several seconds, his heart now in his throat. He stood with his mouth agape, when the man started to pull on something from behind one of the bins. Wonwoo. He was unconscious. And this disturbing person was dragging him along the ground like a dead rabbit.
"H…Hey-" Mingyu forced himself to say, but he wasn't given much of a chance to finish, as the creature ran over to him in two seconds flat. It came right up close to the boy's face. Its breath stunk. Like meat and vomit. Mingyu tried to take a step back to relieve himself of the stench, but the man latched on to his arm. His nails dug right through and ripped part of the boy's sleeve clean off, leaving the his arm exposed. The next scene played out in such short time that Mingyu barely had a chance to comprehend the situation. He was suddenly being forced against the bricks of the alley wall, a superior force cutting off his breathing. Then, the pressure was replaced by a seething pain. It pierced his neck like the jaw of an animal latching on to its prey. Mingyu screamed, cried and moaned out in desperation for it to stop. But instead he felt a disturbing sucking sensation, and realised who, or what, this creature was. He denied it a million times over in his mind, and trashed about, attempting to push his attacker off. It didn't help. This only made the pain worsen, so instead he tried to relax. To calm himself and convince his brain that this was all just a bad dream. But it seemed more like a living nightmare. Or a living hell.
Just as Mingyu had started to lull into a state of acceptance the creature pulled away, causing him to cry out in pain once more, then collapse to his knees, shaking and stuttering.
"It was you or him." The man said in a croaky voice, before wiping the red liquid from his face and zooming off down in the direction of the shops.
Mingyu only looked on in shock. His hand had shot up to his neck, as he tried to block out the still lingering pain. It did little to comfort him. Then he heard a mumbling sound come from the direction of the bins, and looked over in hope. "Please…" He spat, barely being able to speak. Then the person rushed over to him, and Mingyu's prayers were answered.
"Oh my god- Mingyu! What?" Wonwoo cried, his eyes now adjusting to the dimness of the alleyway. He scanned the boy's body, only just recovering from his own ordeal of fainting, looking for a sign of injury.
"We need to get you out of here- come on." He said, placing a hand round Mingyu's waist. After a lot of awkward and difficult shuffling, Wonwoo finally managed to practically single-handedly pull Mingyu to the edge of the alley. He then slumped the boy down next to the nearest lit lamppost and winced at the sight of his neck. He couldn't even see the bite marks. The skin was in such a state, and the blood… He shut his eyes, unable to look at it any longer.
"Wonwoo!" The boy immediately spun around at hearing the familiar voice. It was Hoshi.
"Oh! There you are!" Wonwoo shouted, not for one second phased by how long the boy had left him and Mingyu alone. He was just glad to see someone else. Glad to see Hoshi was alright.
"I'm so sorry- the members, they hid the money from me and I- woah, what happened?!" The boy said, suddenly realising the state the younger boy was in. Wonwoo shook his head, trying to pick Mingyu up once again. "Let's save all that for later, come on, Mingyu's been hurt. We need to get him home." Hoshi nodded, and put his arm round the injured member also. Step after slow step, they managed to get Mingyu back to the dorms. It was hard work, but neither of them fancied waiting by the alleyway for an ambulance after what had just happened. 'We can call one when we get back.' Hoshi had said.
As Wonwoo banged on the door with his foot, several members rushed over to open it. The first to see Mingyu, who was barely conscious, was Jeonghan.
"Hoshi… Wonwoo… what on earth?" he stuttered, trying to help them take the boy in, as he was evidently getting to heavy for the two of them. Many of the other boys simply couldn't speak, or had nothing to say, and just looked on in shock. Wonwoo had taken off his over shirt, and draped it over Mingyu's neck, but it had slipped off as they pulled the boy towards the sofa. Jeonghan, Joshua and Minghao all gasped in unison. Seungkwan looked away immediately, and Seungcheol's eyes widened. It wasn't a pretty sight.
"Right, get him into the bathroom." Jeonghan said, taking control over the situation. "That needs to be cleaned and covered. We can save the questions and answers for later." He went on, instructing the boys to do as he asked. Wonwoo went into the kitchen to get a cloth, and Woozi started rummaging around the cupboards for something to cover the wound with. Luckily there were several large coverings and some antiseptic stuff they could use. Just as Jun came in with a new shirt for Mingyu to replace the old blood-stained one, there were now about six boys all crowding round Mingyu in the bathroom. He woke up slowly at first, but then realised all the staring eyes looking down at him. "I think it's best if only a couple of us stay in here, you know so he doesn't get stressed out." Wonwoo suggested, strangely hoping that everyone would clear off. Jeonghan nodded, and soon the other members began to leave. "All you need to do is apply pressure to his neck, like this." Jeonghan started, then grabbed the cloth and held it firmly in place directly on the bite marks. Mingyu could feel where each puncture had been made in his skin. He screamed out in pain, but Jeonghan didn't stop. Wonwoo looked down at Mingyu's desperate and sorrowful expression, he couldn't bare to see him this way. "Uh, Jeonghan? Maybe I should take it from here?" The older boy gave Wonwoo a look of judgement. "You sure you can clean it by yourself?" He said, as he began to dab the cloth to wipe up some of the blood. Mingyu looked like he was going to cry. "Yes! Yes… I can do it." Wonwoo said quickly, and took the cloth from his Hyung. The older boy was reluctant to leave, but after a while decided that Wonwoo was doing fine taking care of Mingyu on his own. He shut the door, and Mingyu let out a great sigh. "Thanks…" He mumbled, still not being able to talk a great deal, but he was glad that Jeonghan had left. Wonwoo smiled, but then stopped when he looked down at the cloth. It was practically drenched on one side already. And the cloth was white too, which probably didn't help much. "No problem. You must be in shock after what happened, and I figured you probably wouldn't want loads of people gawping at you." Wonwoo said before rinsing the cloth in the sink. He watched as the red liquid started to drain, still not quite fully understanding how this whole situation came about. "What happened to you anyway?" He asked as he turned back round to start gently applying pressure to Mingyu's neck once again. He was careful not to do what Jeonghan had done, as he didn't want to cause the boy anymore pain. Mingyu's eyes drifted to the floor. He was stuck for words. "These look like bite marks…" Wonwoo carried on saying, as he removed the cloth and pointed towards the several deep holes that lined the boy's neck. The room was silent. Mingyu swallowed, he didn't want to lie, but how could he possibly tell the truth? He didn't even know if he believed it himself, and doubted that Wonwoo would either. "I… Uh, don't really remember…" He said eventually, turning away from Wonwoo, who was now rather close to him. The older boy continued wiping off the blood, not really saying anything. He realised how distressing this whole thing must have been for Mingyu, but partly felt guilty that he wasn't there to help stop it from happening in the first place. No… instead he had to faint after that person… 'wait a minute… I remember now, someone came up behind me and knocked me unconscious." He thought, trying to piece together what had happened. "Hey, Mingyu?" He asked, before attempting to open the new tub of antiseptic cream. "Hm?" The boy replied, evidently starting to get tired. Wonwoo watched as Mingyu's eyes started to flicker from open to closed. He then snapped out of it when he finally managed to get the lid of the cream off. "I just wondered if you saw a person. I remember someone putting their hand over my mouth, but then it's all blank. Up until I woke up and saw you that is." Mingyu's breath suddenly started to quicken, and he felt his eyes go funny too. Then he started to cough, like he was gasping for water. Wonwoo didn't know what to do, he just stood and watched as Mingyu started gripping on to his neck, which only drew out more blood. He was panting, moaning in pain, then he flung his head back in agony, as his mouth started to feel like it was on fire. Wonwoo backed up against the door, not quite believing his eyes. His friend was in a state of pure frenzy, but then it suddenly stopped. Just like that. Mingyu had opened his eyes after shutting them in his state of odd behaviour. Then they fell upon a small hand mirror, and as he looked down at his reflection, he realised what he assumed had happened earlier on must indeed be true. That he was bitten, by a Vampire. And the small fangs that were now lining his upper jaw confirmed it. He was slowly becoming one too.