"Hey, bulldog!"

"What did you call me?!" 

"BULL...DOG!"

"COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE..!" 

I woke up with a start. 

Light was seeping through the broken windows and part of the ceiling, and I slowly got up. All my bones were screaming agony, but I was used to it already. I cracked my knuckles, then my neck bones and shoulders'. My eyes finally landed on the lump that lay on a half-torn mattress not too far from me. The events from yesterday immediately came to mind, and sighed. I remembered both brothers' state: one was barely hanging onto his life, the other about to mentally collapse. 

I got up, dusted what I could from my clothes to look halfway presentable, and took three slow steps towards both boys. 
 

I remembered one was Kai, that was a name too... Unusual to forget. The other was Taemin, or at least that's what I remembered. I was bad with names, so I couldn't be sure. In order to not seem like a complete douche that forgot his name, I decided to awake him by shaking him softly. 

His eyes fluttered open, then flinched from the light. He immediately sat up, and checked for his brother's state: he wasn't shaking anymore, but his breathing was dangerously soft. He must've sensed that it was a bad sign, his lower lip jutting out slightly. He took a breath to calm down, and looked at me. He said something, but I couldn't understand anything. He must've seen my perplexed expression, and sighed. 

"Euh.. Itadakimasu?" (I'll eat it well, expression to be said before eating). I blinked and made an "oh" gesture; he wanted to know if there was food. Now that I think about it, how have they managed to survive this long? I held both my hands up, palms outwards, signing him to wait here. 

I walked out of the building, and scanned the perimeter: no one in sight, and it must've been around 10 a.m. by the sun's position. I decided to go the easy way out and search through the other buildings, hoping that supplies would be hiding there. 

After around an hour of scavenging around, I finally found some food: molded bread, a couple of tuna cans, and three packets of MacDonald's ketchup. It was convenient enough, so I headed back. Before entering, though, I could see in the distant - or, more like, the horizon - some movement or agitation. My gut feeling told me it was better to not stick around by the time it came here, if it did, and instead go back where I came from. 

The first thing I saw was Taemin accomodating his brother, and tears st down his eyes. Kai was looking incredibly pale compared to yesterday, and he was eerily still. A pang struck through my heart, realizing that the inevitable had come, and I hugged the young boy in my arms. He broke down immediately, sobbing loudly and howling. He talked and talked, and all I could make out was him mentioning Kai many times, I guessed he was telling me about his brother. I couldn't understand, so I just nodded and patted his back comfortingly. 

After he'd calmed down, I gave him the food and gestured wildly until he understood my point: prepare some food and try to save as much as possible. I then started to look around for something that would work as a shovel, finding a couple of metal sticks long enough to do the trick. I started to dig into the earth, praying that I would get done quickly and that whatever I saw in the horizon wouldn't come our way. 

By the time I was finished with the hole -- sadly, Kai's resting place, -- I wiped the sweat off my forehead and checked on Taemin. He had managed to make a couple of tuna and ketchup sandwhiches, but he hadn't touched any of them. He was murmuring things to his brother, holding said's hand and it softly. I pu tmy hand on his shoulder blade, squeezed it, and nodded towards the sandwhiches. He nodded and softly put Kai's hand on the mattress. 

We ate in silence, and I could see that night was fast approaching. I mentally cursed, since that meant we wouldn't be able to head back. I finished quickly the sandwhich and gathered what was left in my backpack. I was surprised at how well Taemin managed the supplies, but it wasn't the time to be congratulating him for that. 

We moved the mattress towards the hole, careful not to drop Kai, and placed it down. I gave Taemin one of my 'shovels' and quietly we both began to fill out my day's work. 

When night fell, we both fell asleep next to a pile of earth.