Chapter 2. Minho

I woke up after sensing the bright ray shining into my eyes. I sat up slowly and stretched. Jongin was still soungly asleep on my right, and so was that young man from my age. Silently, I prepared breakfast. I took out my last match, lit up the fire, dug out two pieces of bread from the ragged bag and started backing them.

When the buns were almost done, Jongin crawled out from his sleep while rubbing an eye. He looked at me and smiled. Smiling back in reply, I brought him a bun which I warpped it in a cloth.

"Be careful, it's hot!" I warned him.

He nodded and started to blow the bun to cool it down first before muching it.

Then, I heard some rustles coming from the young man, Kibum. He was awake but he did not move his body. He must have strained his muscles.

I walked to him and helped his to sit up against the wall.

"Ugh!" he groaned and I quickly apologized to avoid being scolded. Maybe I actually hurt his injury.

"It's alright!", he said, almost sounded like a whisper.

Kibum is a person with quite serious attitude, but I find him interesting. He was the first man, whom I thought, to be very much different from the others.

After setting down, I went back to take the other bun and fed him. Bit by it, I pinched the bun and put it into his mouth. He munched at it slowly.

He was quiet today, a bit too quiet from yesterday. I was a bit worried. Hopefully the injury did not give him a great impact.

After a few times of feeding, Kibum shook his head and said, "You can have it. I'm full."

I stared at him, and then back to the bread, and back to him.

"It's only a quater of the bun you've eaten. How can you be full with such small amount of food ?"

he then gave me a weird..no intresting reply.

"I've stored some porridge yesterday," he chuckled. "You can have it. I know you've not eaten yet."

"I ate before you awake," I said, but my stomach betrayed me. It growled. Kibum laughed softly.

"You're not a good lier," he smirked.

I smiled and admitted defeat. I swallowed the whole bun without chewing it first. Kibum looked at me with disbelief.

"It's too small for me to bite," I told him straight and laughed.

He chukled and shook his head a little. Jongin joined in the laught even though he did not know what was going on.

After we finished our meal, I piggybacked Kibum while Jongin walked beside me, clutching onto my jacket.

The sky was cloudy but it did not look like it would rain. Maybe it was playing its role to sadden the atmosphere of this lifeless town. This town, which had worn out, was the place where the war broke out. Broken windows, fallen buildings, and dead corpses were all that left.

"Where are we heading to?" asked Kibum, almost breathless. He is a young man, but very weak, lifeless and very lack of energy.

"To my friend's place," I said.

"A friend ? Can that person be trusted ?"

"Well, he DOES have an unexplainable character, but he's trustworthy."

"We still have to be careful. He might as well be a spy."

"Okay, I will."

Suddenly, Jongin's grip thigened. I looked at him and noticed his eyes were wide open in fear.

"What's the matter ?"Kibum asked.

"Look," I said, as I followed Jongin's gaze to a human corpse, black and dead, which was being eaten by a wild bloodhound.

"Stop staring. Get us out of here, now!" urged Kibum. I put my arms around Jongin's shoulder and pushed him to walk quickly away from that scene.

It was almost everything when we finally reached another town. We did stop halfway as Jongin could not keep up with us, and Kibum wanted to get down for a moment to let me rest. He's a nice guy and considerate too. Maybe I was wrong for judging him for being a bit too serious.

"We're there!" I exclaimed and was very relief that we were now in a different town. It was not a very pretty town but at least they were less dead bodies and buildings.

We walked towards the faded white house with an almost destroyed wooden door. I knocked the door twice, but there were no response. I knocked once again, but louder this time. Few minutes later, the door creaked open a little to show an eye looking out. I was about to call him but the door shut back.

Kibum frowned and complained, "How rude!"

Before I could knock again, it opened. I wanted to explain our purpose for being theren but I was shut by a finger on my lips.

"Shh! Come in, and make it quick."

I nodded and allowed Jongin to go in first befoer we followed. That man made sure that the coast was clear before ting the door. He then lashed the door with 50 types of locks and switched it on. The room looked like a ward with laboratory appliances.

He offered us to sit while he stood waiting at his desk. I slowly put Kibum down on the chair before sitting beside him. Jongin stood beside me, still not wanting to let me go. That incident must have given him a big impact.

"So, what is it Vice ?" the man, Lee Jinki, asked with a grin. His little eyes behind these round glasses and his reddish brown hair just do not match, but I did not have time to bother about it.

"Call me Minho for the mean time." I told him with a stare. "My friend here is unable to move around and he had a deep cut at his thigh. Can you treat him ?"

"Hmm..." Jinki examinated Kibum very closely, from top to bottom and back to the top again. Then ,he stopped his stare at the untidy bandage. His look was serious at first, but then he grinned when he said, " Well, of course I can but..."

"I'll pay you back, I promise," I replied in a serious tone. He was not convinced.