The two boys awoke to the sound of the door being slammed shut. Leo rubbed his eyes at the sight of Adam by the door, his hair messy and sweat trickling down the sides of his face.

"I smell food," says Justin.

Leo shoots him an angry glare then reverts his attention back to Adam. "You haven't been here in three days. Where have you been?"

Adam sits down beside Justin on the bed, trying to calm himself down by gulping down the last few milliliters of water in Justin's bottle. "I got lost," he says, still catching his breath. "I stupidly wandered off my map while trying to avoid the members of the Blackjack. They were on my tail," he inhaled. "I managed to pick up some actual edible food though."

Justin's head perked up at the sound of the word, his eyes gleaming. "I knew I smell food."

Adam handed him a plastic bag, and Justin was delighted to see exactly three slices of pizza and a chocolate bar. The cheese has already melted and made a mess inside the plastic bag, but the youngest didn't care. After all, it has been a long while since the last time he ate anything better than scraps of meat still holding on to animal bones found scattered across the street.

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by the ever-familiar sound of sirens from outside the metal roofs they used as doors. Beams of light seep through the cracks of their makeshift house, but they knew that whenever they're inside, they are safe.

"Aren't you supposed to check on Theo?" Leo asked Justin.

Justin swallowed his last bite of pizza before he focused on the beams from outside. "I'll wait until the lights are out. We can't afford any suspicions," he looked at Adam. "Can I have the chocolate bar, too?"

Adam narrowed his eyes at him. "Eat a third."

The lights soon disappeared, and once again, they were enveloped in darkness. Adam felt Justin climbing off the bed, followed by the sound of feet shuffling. "Can someone shine a light on me? I can't find my slippers," he half-whispered. Adam his small flashlight, its little light flickering in the dark. He turned it off as soon as Justin found what he was looking for, satisfied that his eyes finally got used to dark as he can see Leo on the other side of the room again.

They watched Justin creep out of the place, carefully moving the metal serving as their entrance as he tries not to create any sound. He soon disappears in the outside, and the last thing they saw of him were his hands as he placed the metal back on the entrance.

Adam sighed heavily as he picked up the plastic bag he gave to Justin earlier. The chocolate bar was already melting fast, so he took a rather huge bite out of it before handing it over to Leo. They also shared the last two pieces of pizza, both silently hoping that this wouldn't be the last time they will be able to eat food such as these. Leo didn't bother ask where Adam got the food from. It was quite obvious they weren't from some sort of trash, so it could only mean one thing -- it was stolen. Not that it mattered anyway.

It's already mid-October year 2301, and if you want to survive, you've got to be tactful with a lot of survival skills. Leo has just turned eighteen a few days prior, and all they had were a few loaves of bread Justin stole from his older brother Theo. In their world, stealing can no longer be considered a crime. It's a way of life.

"So why exactly were the members of the Blackjack tailing on you?" Leo asked Adam a few moments later. He had already finished his pizza and was contemplating on whether or not he should go out and look for something to drink.

"I don't know. They must've smelled something on me," he snorted. "I really have no idea. I don't even know if I'm the one they're following, but I knew I had to run. Then I got lost."

"And it took you three days to find your way back here? Where did you sleep for the past two nights?"

"The streets were pitch black, but I did manage to find some narrow alleys. I don't know if they saw me acting like a poor homeless boy over there, but if they did, they didn't care."

Leo scoffed. "You are a poor homeless boy."

"And so are you."

Adam slammed himself down on Justin's bed and heaved another sigh and closed his eyes. He saw flashes of what used to be his old home in downtown Qingdao, before he fled to Hebei as a refugee about eight years ago. He saw the buildings and the establishments and the streets where he used to play as a kid. He saw his mother and father and his older sister. He saw the happier version of himself who couldn't be more content of anything else. Life had been perfect, but now he realized that perfect truly is too good to be true.

He sat back up again. Leo was still sitting on his own bed with the blanket covering his legs. Accompanying the darkness is a bitter cold spell upon those who are unfortunate.

Adam and Leo both lived a normal life, but they were both unfortunate enough to have been caught in a likewise unfortunate event.

"Should I go out and find us something to drink?" Leo finally asked.

"Are you thirsty? As much as possible, we should wait for Justin to come back."

Leo nodded. "No, I'm not that thirsty. We'll go out tomorrow then."

Adam didn't reply anymore, and watched as Leo tucked himself back under the covers. He sighed yet again, thinking about how -- despite being unfortunate regarding the events in their lives -- they can still be considered lucky. They managed to survive for eight years without their parents and without the life they once lived.

He stood up from Justin's bed and climbed on to his own, situated on the far end of the small space. He peeked outside through a small hole right at his eye level. He saw the ruins of what used to be the city proper of Hebei; now the buildings look as if their top floors have been bitten off, and the highways are all destroyed.

It looked like a scene from his once favorite movie, which was exactly why he still couldn't believe he's now seeing it in real life.

He stared at the small number of streetlights flickering on and off down the sidewalks as well as a stray dog trying to survive off of the food that can be picked from the trash. The crescent moon is perfectly visible from where he was observing, along with a whole constellation of stars brightening up the night sky, and Adam found it extremely beautiful, like a candle in the dark; a rainbow after the rain. Only the rain isn't over yet.

He slumped his back on to the headboard of his bed, his arms crossed and his feet entwined with each other.

It's already two in the morning, and he can already hear Leo's soft snoring from the other side of the room, but Adam himself is wide awake. He's thinking about whether or not it is still possible to escape this kind of life, and if so, then how? It's clear that it's no longer possible to bring the old city back, so how will it be possible to bring freedom back? He knew for a fact that they won't be able to survive for a few more years if they fail to think of something that will lift them up from the dirt. He knew he had to do something.

But what is it?

He sat in silence for several minutes in the dark, but his train of thoughts was then interrupted by another series of sirens and beams of light seeping through the cracks of their walls. Even Leo was once again shook awake.

"Why are they making rounds again? It has barely even been thirty minutes since the last one," Leo asked, rubbing his eyes again.

"Must be something urgent," Adam answered. "You don't suppose, something big's happening again?"

Leo paused for a moment to think. "There couldn't be," he replied. "The capital's all destroyed now. How could there still be something?"

Adam shrugged, peeping through the small crack beside him once again. "You never know."