Six

 

The chirping of an unidentified bird along with gentle shaking pulled me out of my dream state.   “Min? Wake up, sleepyhead.”   I groggily opened my eyes to see Yixing smiling over me. I sat up, holding onto his arm so I wouldn’t fall back down.   “What’s happening, Xing? Where are we?”   Yixing chuckled as he pulled me up to my feet. “We’re near Taiyuan, remember?”   I blinked a few times, before the memories rushed back to me.   “Oh yeah...”   “Yeah,” Yixing nodded, “now I’ll get out of this tent so you can get dressed, okay? We’re leaving after breakfast, and Jongin seems to be impatient.”   I pictured Jongin’s face in my mind, glaring at everybody as usual,  and smiled a little. “When is he not?”   “Morning, Min!”   “Morning Sehun,” I yawned tiredly as I dipped out of the tent. Sehun handed me a breakfast sandwich with slightly burnt bacon in it, and I accepted it gladly, noticing how my stomach was grumbling just at the sight.   “How’d you sleep, Min? My snoring didn’t wake you up, did it?”   I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a little. Joonmyun didn’t even snore.   “No it didn’t,” I replied, laughing, “ and I slept fine, thanks. Do you have any idea where we’re going after this?”   “We’re going to the Capital!” Lu Han piped in happily. “Well- Beijing’s the name the city had before the Final War, but it’s the Capital of District 1.”   “Uh...why are we going to the Capital? With millions of people who will all see us?” I asked, confused.    “We should be able to fit in and hide better there,” Kris replied. “Our strategy is to blend in, and we can just be a couple more street kids in the city.”   Kris’ words made complete sense, and I nodded at him wordlessly before beginning to eat my sandwich. No matter how odd it may look, food is always better on an empty stomach.    Yixing nudged me to move over on the log I was sitting on, and I did so without complaint. Due to a certain moody bastard, I realized that I was the last one still eating, so I quickly gobbled up the rest of my sandwich before shooting back an equally cold glare.   “Alright, so now that she’s finished eating, can we leave yet?” Jongin pushed away from the tree he was leaning on and stuck  his hands into his pocket. “We’ve lost half the morning just waiting for her.”   “Jongin, I thought we talked about this,” Sehun groaned. “Be nicer to Min, or I’ll keep kicking you in your sleep.”    I shot Sehun a grateful look, and he gave me two thumbs up.   Jongin just rolled his eyes and turned away.   I watched as the boys picked up our limited luggage and heaved it onto their backs, refusing my offers of help. Kris and Joonmyun were talking strategy again, and I tuned them out to watch Baekhyun struggling with his backpack instead. Suddenly, I felt a warmth envelope my hand and I looked to my left to see none other than Kim Jongin holding onto it.   “What?” he snapped at me in his usual tone. “What are you staring at? I’m only doing this so we can make up for the time that we lost waiting for you.”   I huffed once again, and took two steps back, moving away from Jongin. We waited for the rest of the guys to huddle around before we all joined our hands again.    I felt the feeling of weightlessness, which I was starting to actually get used to, and then the usual knee-jerking sensation of hitting the ground, which I definitely could do without.    When my vision cleared up, I saw that we were  in an alleyway, sandwiched between three story brick buildings. Lu Han took the lead, and we strolled out onto the main street. I was greeted by the sight of street-side stalls, food and snacks. In the background, large buildings loomed over yet, abandoned and reminiscent of the past.   “Welcome to the Capital!” Lu Han gestured wildly at the street. “I think this used to be one of the biggest shopping districts in the city before the Final War. The government pulled it down because it was too extravagant, so now it’s just wasted space and street markets.”   I tried to imagine the street filled with gaudy, opulent storefronts everywhere, instead of the barren, boarded- up buildings now, and wished that I could have seen it then.   I saw something brown appear in front of my face, and I went cross-eyed just to identify it as meat chunks on a skew