After a good night’s sleep, I got up and almost bumped my head against the top bunker bed. I sat up, back slightly bent, and looked over to the other bed, where Taemin laid. He was sleeping soundly, although a frown was etched on his face. I approached him and touched between his brows, and his face immediately relaxed. I smiled and headed to the bathroom of the hide out. Next to the door was a beginning of a hallway. It was cut off halfway by rocks, debris and chucks of fallen earth.

This is where Eric… I shuddered and stepped into the room. I checked the water pipes, and opened the flow. I e of the faucets and brown muddy water dripped from it. I left it running as I made my way back to the sleeping room. I took a towel off the top shelf of the small closet, and looked back when Taemin snored. He had moved, his leg was dangling from the bed and he looked like he was about to fall. I carefully turned him around so he wouldn’t fall, and headed back to the bathroom.

Clear water was now running, so I turned the shower on and waited until the brown water turned clearer. I entered and washed quickly so that Taemin would have enough water as well. After all, I wasn’t sure how much water the tank had or if the connection to the town’s water source was still working. After the quick refreshing shower, I realized that I’d forgotten to get clothes along with my towel. And all theses Asians are so conservative about showing skin… I sighed, shrugged my shoulders at no one in particular, and headed back to the room with my hands holding the towel securely over my body.

It would be just my luck that as I entered the room, I was greeted by the back view of a messy-haired Taemin. He was stretching and yawning, and then turned towards where I was standing. Still half awake, he looked at me, then his eyes suddenly widened. His face flamed up, and he looked at the floor immediately. I stifled a laugh, and searched through the closet for some clothes. With a set of pants, shirts, and underwear against my chest, I looked at him.

“Stay here. Don’t leave.”

He nodded, still not looking at me, and I quickly left to go back to the bathroom. I changed, and fetched Taemin, bringing him to the bathroom with me. I pointed to the shower, “Take a shower. Wash up. Don’t take too long.”

I turned to leave, but then a thought popped into my head, “When you’re done, shout. Don’t wear your dirty clothes.”

Not thinking of the many innuendoes my sentence probably held, I left the room, and decided to go through my teams’ clothes to find something for Taemin to change into. After setting a clean towel on the unmade bed, I looked through Eric’s underwear. I pulled a boxer-brief that looked Taemin’s size, and decided to look through John's clothes since his build was more similar than Eric’s to Taemin. After finding a decent pair of pants and shirt, I took the towel along with my findings to the kitchen and waited until he called me. 

Meanwhile, I decided to prepare breakfast. I took out a canned spam, a cracker mega packet, and the ketchup that was left from yesterday. I settled the food on the plates, and placed them on the table along with the water we had. I heard a faint shout, and quickly took the clothes and headed to the bathroom. 

"Get in the shower. I'm coming in." 

For good measure, I waited a couple of seconds in case he was outside. I entered, left everything on the toilet, and closed the door, "Get changed, we're going to eat." 

He came out a little later wearing the black pants and grass green shirt that I'd picked for him. He looked completely different now that he was clean: he was pale, with a childish face, he looked even more fragile than he did before. He sat opposite to me, and began eating. After a couple of spoonfuls of the spam, I decided to ask him something that crossed my mind. 

"You understand me, don't you?" I asked in English. 

He looked startled for a second, then nodded. Hmmm.. This would've been so much easier from the start, then.

"Do you understand everything?" he shook his head, then put opened his arms, making the distance between his hands grow, "Oh. You understand most things?" He nodded.

"Do you speak English at all?" he pinked, and put the thumb almost against his index finger, and I laughed, "Okay, you don't speak much, then. Well, at least this makes communicating easy. Are you japanese, then?" 

He shook his head, then said "Work". I 'oh'ed, nodding, "So you know Japanese because of your work? What did you do?" 

"Sshinger and dansher," I found his accent cute, but nodded, making sure to not seem like I was making fun of him. I guessed he wasn't going to speak much, but if I laughed at him, I was certain he wouldn't speak at all. I nodded after a while, "I work, too. I learnt Mandarin, though. My..." I gulped, and looked away, "My best friend knew Japanese, though. He made me watch anime. That's why I knew a couple of words." 

It was his turn to 'oh' and nod. "Your work?" he asked, and I sighed. Since the mission was a failure, I guessed it didn't do any harm to blow my cover. After all, I didn't know if I'd be able to get back home alive, not that I had anyone to go back to. 

"I'm a Marine. I work for the US Army. I was sent here on a mission." Taemin's eyes were the size of saucers, and looked ready to pop out. His mouth was hanging, and I was tempted to shut it close for him. 

"Listen, we're going to be leaving soon, okay? We're just resting for a bit, then we're heading to the coast. We're gonna get a boat and go to Japan, okay?" he nodded, "I have a contact there, hopefully he'll set us a better boat and supplies so we can continue our journey." 

He looked at me confused, and tilted his head, "What jou-ney?" I looked at him. I had this urge to protect him, but under what pretense would I ? I couldn't very well go out and say that it was for his own good. He was a grown adult (or at least, I hope so), he could make choices for himself.

"I was thinking of bringing you back to the US with me. Or at least leave you in a safer location. Japan is an ally to China, so it's out of the question. I was thinking Taiwan, or the Philippines. What do you say?" 

He looked pensieve for a moment, then nodded. "And I'm sorry about your brother. I'm sure he's watching over you now, though." His eyes misted, and he nodded, "He is not brother, but sshinger and dansher like me." I nodded, "Like saying 'gege'?" I asked, and he nodded again. 

I sighed. It was a shame that, as we spoke, more innocent blood was shed for the whims of a psychopath and murder. 

"Tomorrow, we'll pack up, but for now, we'll go over our supplies and check what we're taking. We can't go heavy since we're going to walk a long while, but we have to have the essentials for the trip from the coast until the Japanese islands."

He nodded, and I felt like a teacher with a very attentive student, "And we'll teach you how to use a gun, too. I need you to have my back, just in case." 

Taemin's eyes widened yet again, and he shook his head and arms, "No!" he said, sounding scared. 

"Sorry, Taemin, but you need to be able to protect yourself. Deal with it." 

He dropped his arms in defeat, and sighed. 

Sorry I have to corrupt you from such a young age, but it's a war we're talking about. Whoever isn't prepared, can and will die.

"Here, finish your spam, we'll be looking through any clothes that might fit you and then we'll go check the weapons' room."

It's going to be a draining day, I can feel it.