They searched the entire house. There were pots and pans, a somehow-working gas stove, and even running (rusty) water. The only thing missing was food.

Sunggyu really didn’t trust the group alone, but they desperately needed food. Besides, he worried for his mother. He didn’t expect much from his father, but his mother needed to be safe.

“I’m going home,” he announced to the group. Howon’s head snapped up in shock. “Not for good,” Sunggyu clarified. “We need food, and I want to check on my parents.”

“I want to go too!” Dongwoo jumped up. “Hyung, can we all just split up and search for food separately?”

Sunggyu hesitated; the chaos was dying down, but who knew what the anarchists might do?

“Howon, with me,” he decided. “Sungyeol, Myungsoo, you live close together. Dongwoo, Woohyun, take Sungjong. Everyone needs to stay together. Come back as soon as you’re done, and don’t forget about the food.”

Howon nearly laughed in relief; although Sunggyu would never go home with anyone else, Howon was afraid of facing the truth alone. If Sunggyu was there, it would be okay.

“Let’s go.” Sunggyu’s smile seemed a bit forced, and Howon knew why. He tried to smile back, but the fear was too much.

“I’m scared,” he whispered as they moved out of the forest. “What if there’s no one there and just abandoned us?”

Sunggyu kept walking, eyes hard. “Then we’ll live alone,” he said shortly. Without looking, he fumbled for Howon’s hand. “We have each other, and that’s enough.”

Howon held onto Sunggyu, through the gray streets, past the charred shops, all the way until they reached Sunggyu’s home.

The apartment building had been reduced to rubble. A pile of stones and dust. Howon could see Sunggyu’s jaw clench, unclench enough to ask a policeman about survivors, and then clench again upon hearing that the residents had long gone.

“Let’s go,” he managed to tell Howon, squeezing his hand tight. “Do you want to go home?”

Howon wanted to say no, but he found himself nodding yes. Sunggyu’s eyes softened just a fraction.

Howon’s home, a small hut in the midst of the worst part of town, was a charred, smoking mess. He couldn’t summon Sunggyu’s self-control, and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

Sunggyu held him through the pain, even though he himself was dying inside.

“Come on,” he whispered roughly. “You still have me, we still have the others, we’ll make it through.” The sun was setting, and the others would be waiting. “We have to move on. They’re not here, but they may not be dead yet. They still could be alive, and we could still see them. We just, we don’t know where they are.”

Howon was still sobbing when Sunggyu dragged him away. Admittedly, Sunggyu hated doing it, but tears wouldn’t feed the group. He steeled his heart and managed to find a few pieces of rotting vegetables.

In the end, Howon caught enough control to face the group with a stony face. However, it was quite obvious that nothing good had happened. Dongwoo’s dad was missing, and his mother was standing in a group of residents, shocked. He couldn’t bear to see her, so he turned away. Sungjong’s parents were both gone, and so was Woohyun’s mother. They couldn’t find his father.

The others didn’t have such luck either. No one found their parents except for Dongwoo. However, Sungyeol and Myungsoo did find an abandoned bakery on their way back. They took as much bread as they could, but with seven people to feed, Sunggyu knew the food wouldn’t last long.

Poor boys... I didn't know how to properly write the loss of a family member because, well, I've never dealt with such pain before. I'm sorry if I undermined the pain.