Morning was rough, even after a hearty meal of overcooked mongrel and the mostly clean water that Minsoo found earlier the other day.  Stifling a groan, Byunghyun pried open tired eyes as he felt something odd about his sleeping predicament.  Coming to in the predawn gloom, he realized he wasn’t exactly sleeping entirely alone as per usual.  Someone had their arms about his waist…

                dry lips, he looked over his shoulder and froze, pausing when he realized it was the newbie who had his face burrowed into his back.  Clamping his jaws on a grumpy retort, Byunghyun exhaled softly and picked his head up to look around, wondering where the hell Chanhee had gone.  The lame fool had been in the middle when they’d all gone to sleep…

                “,” he hissed quietly when he saw the injured young man sitting in the curve of the outermost edge of their shelter, vigilantly staring out.  He would have said more on the matter except the new kid stirred at the sound of his voice and Byunghyun immediately held very still, waiting to see what would happen.  The arms about his waist tightened and the younger boy pressed closer, mumbling something in his sleep.  “Really?” he grumbled under his breath, looking down at the limbs wrapped around him.

                A quiet footstep nearby alerted him that someone else was up and he wasn’t terribly surprised when he heard Minsoo talking to him.  “You look comfortable,” the older male chuckled, squatting close to get a better look at both Byunghyun and the stranger.

                “Shut up,” Byunghyun shot back with a glare.  “It’s not like I tried for this,” he explained, wiggling in place, uncomfortable with Minsoo’s scrutiny.

                “Easy,” Minsoo soothed, placed a calming hand on Byunghyun’s head with a gentle smile.  “Chanhee volunteered to take your shift and you needed the rest anyway,” he went on, resting his elbows on his knees so that his hands hung between his legs.

                “Stupid,” Byunghyun muttered, giving their lame friend a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eyes.

                Minsoo chuckled softly and stood up before he leaned closer again to inspect the sleeping youngster.  “See if you can’t get him to come around.  Chanhee managed to feed him a little bit last night before he passed out but we’ve gotta get some food and water into his system,” he reminded the prone male.

                “Hey!” Byunghyun retorted in irritation, confounded by his unwanted predicament.  “Minsoo!” he hissed, glaring at the taller boy’s back when he didn’t respond and simply continued to walk around, waking the sleeping Jonghyun and Daniel, both of whom were curled up on the other side of the smoldering fire, sharing body heat for warmth.  “So stupid,” he grumbled, finally prying the hands free so he could shimmy onto his other side and turn his focused attention on the newbie.

                He really did look young with his face relaxed peacefully in sleep.  It was still smudged and the beanie corralled his hair neatly since they’d left it in place; head coverings helped keep them all warm when they found them.  At least he didn’t look sick or hurt or anything, which definitely begged the question of what he was doing out in the wastes all by himself.  And how in the hell had he managed to survive?  The boy looked less prepared than a puppy…

                “Hey kid,” Byunghyun murmured, opting to shake the nearest shoulder as they continued to lie face to face on the ground.  Why did he get stuck with this?  The boy sighed softly and whimpered in the back of his throat, face scrunching up cutely as he fought to remain sleeping.  “Oh no you don’t,” the slender male grumbled, reaching to pat his cheek with a partially gloved hand.  “Wakie wakie.  You can’t sleep forever newbie,” he added, persisting determinedly until his companion shifted, whining in complaint as his confused brown eyes blinked open.

                For a moment, Byunghyun was almost disturbed by the sheer openness of the boy’s gaze; the orbs conveyed a large measure of naïve innocence and that should have been impossible in this new world.  Then he blinked again and a measure of fear filtered into his eyes which honestly bothered Byunghyun more than the innocence.  “Who are you?” the kid whispered in a tiny voice that was as dry and dusty as the rest of the wastelands.  He didn’t tense up or freak out and it seemed almost as if he was resigned to whatever fate had in store for him.

                Byunghyun didn’t know why but that bothered him too.  “First you think I’m an angel and now you don’t know who I am?” he grumbled dryly, watching the other to see what he would do.

                His reaction was almost comical.  The boy looked confused as he tilted his head to the side, reminiscent of a confused dog – it did nothing to banish the puppy analogy - and inspected Byunghyun’s face further.  “We’ve met before?”

                Aish…  This kid wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, was he?  “Sort of,” Byunghyun shrugged.  “I found you out there,” he nodded towards the vague horizon, “and brought you back since you were still alive.  I don’t suppose you have a name?” he prompted, wondering if maybe he’d hit his head or something.

                “Changhyun,” he responded almost immediately, catching himself by surprise when the word seemed to jump from his mouth.

                “Nice,” Byunghyun smiled with a nod.  “That works a lot better than kid,” he added, glancing up to look around.  He saw their leader lingering near Chanhee at the entrance and called out, “Hey Soo!  Changhyun’s awake!”

                Confused for a moment, Minsoo pivoted around, with the rest of the group following the sound of Byunghyun’s voice, and asked, “Who?”

                “The new kid,” Byunghyun explained, brow furrowing in surprise when he felt Changhyun tense up and pull himself close, clenching onto his shirt as he burrowed his head against the slender male’s chest.  “What the…?” Byunghyun murmured, confounded by his reaction before he awkwardly shifted his right hand to rub up and down Changhyun’s shoulder soothingly.

                “He’s awake!?” he heard Chanhee call, excitedly shuffling in the distance so he could move closer and Byunghyun cringed.  God he was loud sometimes…

                “It’s alright.  They’re friends,” he assured Changhyun, not really sure what to do now.  He wasn’t good at the whole comforting thing.  “There are four other people with me,” he explained so the newbie would know what to expect.

                “How’s he doing?” Minsoo murmured as he approached the downed duo, waving the others back with a quick gesture.  Byunghyun shrugged uncertainly and they all held their collective breath when Changhyun finally uncurled enough to look over his shoulder with wide eyes.  “Hi,” Minsoo smiled, squatting down and waving once from a couple feet away.

                “Hi…” Changhyun trailed off, relaxing marginally in Byunghyun’s arms.  His eyes drifted around the asymmetrical half-circle and he managed a hesitant smile in return.

                Fortunately, it didn’t take long after that to coax Changhyun from Byunghyun so they could better introduce themselves and offer him food and water, both of which disappeared surprisingly fast.  Chanhee seemed beside himself as he finally managed to work close enough to attend to Changhyun without the boy edging away and, after he ate a bit of the leftover meat from last night, Byunghyun volunteered to take his spot on watch.

                It was easier to keep an eye on things from the outskirts and at least he didn’t feel so off balance around Changhyun when there was some distance between them.  The morning was quiet but the addition of a new member had altered the dynamic of their group considerably and it was obvious none of them had figured out how it was going to settle yet.  Listening in, he was amazed at Changhyun’s lack of survival sense, though he’d managed well enough when he fled the nearest city.

                All of them were used to the horror stories they’d heard, rumors and such that floated into the wastes from the supposed safe zones.  Some cities were fine with relatively good leaders who tried to maintain order fairly but others…  Others were horrid zones of tyrants and power hungry idiots.  It seemed Changhyun had come from one of the latter when he and his younger sister had been discovered in the safe house they were taking refuge in.

                “Seunghyun told us not to leave,” Changhyun explained with a frightened expression as he rubbed his arms reflexively.  “He made sure we had plenty of food and water to last for months in the shelter with us,” he added, sniffing once as tears welled on his lashes.  “He was dying… like everybody else.”

                “I’m sorry, little one,” Chanhee soothed, gently wrapping his arms around Changhyun as he pulled him close, rubbing his back in a comforting gesture.

                “What happened to your sister?” Daniel asked, frowning at Jonghyun when the younger man just looked at him with a disappointed glare.

                Changhyun hiccupped softly and shook his head.  “They took her.  Silly girl,” he swallowed bitterly.  “She always was the brave one.”

                “She used herself as a decoy to let you escape, didn’t she?” Byunghyun asked softly, hooded eyes glancing over his shoulder as he maintained his position.  Changhyun looked up in his direction with the most heartbroken expression and nodded silently.  Unable to see the hurt in his eyes for too long, Byunghyun dropped his gaze and nodded to himself.  That explained a fair bit.

                “How long have you been running?” Minsoo asked, keeping his tone soft and expression calm.

                Changhyun shrugged, not really sure himself.  “A couple days?”

                They all looked around the circle and nodded in silent understanding.  Much longer and he probably would have died of exposure or worse before Byunghyun found him.  But, it was also long enough that they shouldn’t have to worry about any patrols stumbling across them.  A flicker of movement in the dim gloom of morning made Byunghyun pause though and he stared determinedly into the distance.

                “Ah bugger it,” he grumbled, picking up his nail bat from the ground beside him.  “We should probably get moving soon,” he urged, keeping his gaze fixed on another wolf dog thing mincing around the perimeter of their awareness.  “I think they’ve finally noticed the remains of their buddy,” he sneered, standing up.

                “Ayah,” Minsoo sighed, standing upright as he immediately started to usher the rest of the guys around.  “Jonghyun, get the food stuffs.  Daniel.  Take care of the remains of the fire.  Chanhee and Changhyun.  You stay there and Byunghyun.”  The latter turned to look over his shoulder.  “Keep an eye on it.”

                “Duh,” Byunghyun grumbled, brows twitching when he could have sworn he heard a nervous laugh from Changhyun at the comment.  He met the younger boy’s gaze and gave an amused smile as he nodded at him before he focused on the moving creature.  Byunghyun took a couple steps out while he scanned for any other movement.  If he focused hard enough, he thought he could see the sickly, shining carapaces of cockroaches clustered where Jonghyun had dropped the offal last night.  “Ugh,” he shuddered, the mere thought of the big bugs enough to give him the heeby jeebies.

                “Alright guys.  We ready?” Minsoo asked, shouldering his pack as usual while he looked around the rest of their group, glancing between Changhyun and Byunghyun in particular.  “You two pair up.  Come on Chanhee,” he urged, stepping close to help the downed male to his feet.

                Logically, Byunghyun knew why he was being assigned to the newbie, especially because everyone else already had a partner, but he rather resented having someone to account for.  He did just fine by himself.  Minsoo was of the mind that if something wasn’t broken, he wasn’t going to try and fix it though, so their established buddies stood.  Ahead, he caught Daniel making an amused face in his direction, until Jonghyun shoved his shoulder to get him moving.

                “Hey!” Daniel yelped, flailing awkwardly as spindly limbs tried to reclaim his lost balance.

                “We’ll take point,” Jonghyun offered, steadily guiding his companion forward, shaking his head all the while.

                “You guys got the rear, right?” Minsoo asked with one of Chanhee’s arms over his shoulder already, looking back to check with Byunghyun.

                “We’ll be fine,” the shorter male rolled his eyes and got closer to give Changhyun a hand up, mildly gratified that Minsoo trusted him enough to be able to look after the newbie in the back.

                “Are you sure?” Changhyun asked, accepting the gesture hesitantly before he was pulled to his feet.  Byunghyun just glared at him, annoyed with being questioned.  “Sorry,” the younger boy mumbled, ducking his head in embarrassment.

                Byunghyun grunted when Chanhee smacked his arm, and turned his glare on the injured male, not that it did any good.  “Be nice,” Chanhee chastised him with a finger pointed in his face.

                “I am nice,” Byunghyun muttered back, shifting in place when Chanhee just looked at him skeptically.

                Minsoo laughed at the exchange and started moving.  “Enough.  Let’s go,” he called, prompting his partner to follow along or stumble himself.

                For a few seconds, Byunghyun simply eyed the four ahead of him and sighed.  With a glance at the still quiet Changhyun, he rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “Come on newbie.”  Reaching out, he nudged the bowed shoulders and waited until his companion looked up.

                “I’m sorry,” he whispered, causing Byunghyun to frown in confusion.

                “Eh?” he retorted, blinking at the young boy.

                “I thought I did something wrong,” he admitted, fidgeting in place.

                Again, Byunghyun rolled his eyes and sighed.  “I’ll let you know if that happens.  Now come on.  We’re getting left behind,” he explained, nodding towards the walking group ahead of them.  To facilitate the process, he grabbed Changhyun’s hand and promptly started leading the way.  Not surprisingly, his companion didn’t complain or object.  “Just stay close and keep your eyes peeled.  If anything moves, let me know.”

                “Okay,” Changhyun responded, a modicum of determination in his voice as he held tight to Byunghyun’s hand.

                At least he wasn’t a talker.  They moved on in relative silence, the sound of wind and the occasional bark or howl in the distance their only companions.  It was always quiet in the wastelands and if it wasn’t, you knew you were in trouble.  Every now and then, Byunghyun looked over his shoulder to check on Changhyun.  The kid jumped at every skittering sound nearby and Byunghyun knew they were mostly just rats or roaches.  Of course, it was possible some were snakes or something else but mostly, they made enough noise when walking so they weren’t prone to sneak up on things.

                They were slower than usual, with the pace determined by Chanhee’s limp in the middle, but Jonghyun and Daniel were good about maintaining their distance so that no one fell back too far.  It gave Byunghyun plenty of time to look around and make sure they weren’t missing anything.  Changhyun’s grip on his hand remained unusually tight though and he was about to say something about it to him before he remembered where the kid had come from and what had happened just before he found him.

                Byunghyun could have smacked himself in the face.  Not the best of ideas when one was holding a nail bat though so he refrained but he cursed himself mentally.  God he was an insensitive bastard sometimes…  “How close were you with your sister?” he asked over his shoulder, glancing back long enough to make sure Changhyun had heard him before he focused on their surroundings again.

                Changhyun chirped in surprise at the question and took a second to answer.  “She’s one of my best friends,” he admitted with a sad smile, fingers tightening noticeably around Byunghyun’s hand.  And here he’d thought it couldn’t get any worse.  “She’s only sixteen you know?”

                “Aish,” Byunghyun sighed heavily.  That was rough.  She must have been something else to try and save her brother like that.  “I’m sorry,” he offered over his shoulder, not sure what else to say.  He’d watched his older sister die before he had to face that possibility; even now it was difficult to imagine what it would be like to lose her with no chance of rescuing her himself.  A certain death was one thing, but capture by those freaks was another matter entirely…

                He felt bad when Changhyun didn’t immediately respond but he let the kid have his space.  “How…  How did you know?” he finally asked, drawing close enough that he could look at Byunghyun from the side.

                Surprised, he slowed a fraction and looked at his companion with a perplexed look.  “Know what?”

                “About my sister,” he added, almost desperately searching his face for some sort of answer.

                Byunghyun winced and cringed before he took a breath.  “Before these guys found me, I saw it happen a couple times in the same city I got stuck in.”  He shrugged as he explained, “Those s didn’t care about bringing in another scrawny male so I got real good at hiding while I gathered supplies to head out.  It’s not so hard to lay low and keep from being discovered but it’s just plain stupid to head into the wastelands without a weapon.”

                “Oh…” Changhyun murmured, shoulders slumping at the comment.

                Ah .  Mentally, Byunghyun cursed his tongue and exhaled in irritation.  “Hey,” he called, tugging on the hand in his to get Changhyun to look up.  When the boy did, he met his gaze evenly and added, “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”  Changhyun nodded hesitantly, not sure where the other was going with it.  “Then you’re already doing just as good as me.”

                It was a confusing comparison and a poor attempt at cheering him up but Changhyun smiled uncertainly, accepting the words for what they were.  “Thank you,” he added softly, wrapping his other hand around Byunghyun’s in gratitude.

                Personally, he wasn’t sure if it was for the awkward comment, saving him earlier, or something else, but Byunghyun just shrugged and nodded.  “Sure.”

                A relatively comfortable silence descended then, leaving them all to their thoughts as they picked through the remains, always searching for a safe place they could call their own.  It was never a good idea to stay still for too long.  Such peace only invited trouble from all manner of hungry things and whatnot.  They had enough food to get by on for at least a little while but the biggest concern was always water.  It was damnably difficult trying to find a clean source of it.  The water tower they were last at probably would have been decent, if it wasn’t already destroyed.  Collected rainwater was safer than groundwater after all, though all had its dangers.  At least most things didn’t bother them too much during the day.

                They pulled up short when Jonghyun and Daniel circled back to give them an update on the path.  Jonghyun grimaced as he pointed ahead and started, “It’s hard to tell but we think there’s some sort of neighborhood ahead.”

                “I’m telling you.  It is,” Daniel grumbled, shoving his companion’s shoulder in irritation.

                “Did you see any sign of movement?” Minsoo asked, pulling Chanhee’s arm from over his shoulder so he could roll the stiff muscles out.

                “Not yet,” Jonghyun shook his head.

                “No lights or fires or anything,” Daniel added quickly, gesturing towards the general location.

                Chanhee looked at their leader and shrugged, “If it’s not too torn down, we might find emergency stores of supplies and water.”

                “And god knows what else,” Byunghyun frowned, squinting to see if he could get a better look.  He hated former places of civilization about as much as anyone else in their group but it was also the best place to find any sort of supplies to supplement their ever dwindling stores.  But damn if they weren’t gathering places for all the bugs and creepy things.  It took a lot of effort to suppress the almost automatic shudder at the thought.

                “Yeah,” Minsoo agreed wearily, looking around the group.  “You did good with your find the other day, Byunghyun,” he nodded in acknowledgement.  “But we’ll need more before too long.”

                “I know,” he muttered flatly, glancing at Changhyun once who had gone quite pale at the mention of heading into a wrecked portion of civilization.  “It’s alright,” he commented, tugging on the hand still wrapped around his.

                “Okay guys.  We’ll move slow,” Minsoo directed, detaching his tarnished machete from his belt so he’d have a weapon in hand.  “Daniel and Jonghyun take point again.  I’ve got Chanhee,” he assured the slender male beside him before he looked back.  “No splitting up either.”

                He didn’t call any names but Byunghyun knew the comment was directed at him.  When Minsoo’s attention shifted, he made a face at his back and cringed when he heard Changhyun snort.  He’d forgotten he was still there…  Shrugging, he just looked at Changhyun and nodded once.

                They watched the four move ahead in pairs and lingered back for just a moment as Changhyun seemed hesitant to follow.  “I’m scared,” he finally admitted, holding very still so that he didn’t obviously tremble.

                Welcome to the club.  Of course Byunghyun wouldn’t ever say that out loud but you were stupid if you weren’t at least a little afraid nowadays.  “Feh.  You’ve got nothing to worry about with me around,” he boasted with a wink, infusing himself with as much false confidence as he could.  “I can kick the of all the things,” he smirked, nodding his head emphatically once.

                “All the things?” Changhyun laughed lightly, managing a half-smile as he relaxed just a hair.

                “All the things,” Byunghyun reiterated with a cheeky grin this time.  “Let’s go.  Maybe we can find you some sort of weapon or something too,” he added earnestly.  It was equally dangerous wandering around completely unarmed.  Bah.  Who was he kidding?  Everything about this new world was dangerous.  The only thing that made it bearable anymore were these random people he’d found and now, the newbie at his side.  With another confident smile at his… cute companion, he supposed there were worse things after all.

(a/n: I hope you've enjoyed the latest update and thanks for reading!)