Just close your eyes

The Sun is going down

You’ll be alright

No one can hurt you now

-Taylor Swift: Safe and Sound-

Right after he was treated, they had dinner and Junhyung had sent everybody off to bed, except Yoshikuni, Doojoon and Yoseob.  It was quite a problem for him to deal with them.  Hyunseung refused to listen to him (he gave Junhyung a very filthy look) but Junhyung was lucky Doojoon had interfered the situation.  Sierra was an easy case.  Yoseob had easily sent her to bed.  Erika almost had a row with Junhyung again but Gikwang did a good job in coaxing her, before he obediently went to bed himself.  Dongwoon was the only one that actually listened to what Junhyung had to say.

Junhyung believed that everyone will need a good night sleep before they began an arduous journey tomorrow.  It might be their last night sleeping on beds.

The four of them held a meeting at the basement.  Junhyung did not take long to explain the situation to the other three.  Doojoon was more than understood the whole situation.  Yoshikuni and Yoseob were quick to understand.  The only obstacle that Junhyung faced when he was planning the escape strategy was that they doubted him.  They didn’t trust him.  Well, Yoshikuni did trust him but she was still angry with him.  The whole time he planned the strategy, he had to face their unsatisfied faces.

But, after two hours of planning, Junhyung had everything formulated in his head.  He quickly sent Yoseob and Doojoon to get all their canned food supplies from the kitchen.  Yoshikuni was sent to get all their backpacks and rifles upstairs.  Junhyung quickly opened the storeroom in the basement.  He looked at all the weapons and military devices inside the room.  He had to think of how he should divide those to each member of the unit.

When Yoshikuni came with all the backpacks and rifles, Junhyung quickly instructed Yoshikuni to go to the top floor and get all their medical supplies, especially Dongwoon’s.  Yoshikuni obeyed without any complain.  Junhyung looked at the label of each backpack.  Alpha, Beta, Sigma, Gamma and others, each represented their members.  He took his bag and Yoshikuni’s first – Upsilon and Alpha – and filled it with military devices and equipment, most of them went into his.

Then, he quickly took boxes of bullets for respective rifles and handguns.  He filled all available magazines with bullets.  He rechecked all their rifles to make sure the magazines were full.  He changed those which had fewer bullets in them.  He also issued a handgun for each of them, together with the bullets and magazines.  As if that was not enough, he issued quite a number of hand grenades for each of them too.  However, he took the most of the weapons.  In Junhyung’s mind, they were not a trained soldier.  Their priorities would be to survive, which means they must have more necessities in their packs rather than weapons.

Yoseob and Dongwoon were different from the others.  Junhyung filled most of Yoseob’s bag with a computer, designed to be very light and portable and its batteries, lots of them.  They won’t have source of electricity once they were out, running away from threat.  Yoseob will need those batteries.  He was most useful when he was with computers.

“Here’s the medical supplies.  Well, at least the most important ones,” Yoshikuni put them on the table, “And here’s Dongwoon’s medication,” she gave a small, waterproof bag to Junhyung.

Junhyung quickly thanked her and got back to work.  He was grateful that Yoshikuni was able to understand him without he needed to say much.  She had the medicine in a waterproof bag.  Junhyung grabbed the medicine bag and quickly put it into Dongwoon’s backpacks.

“Need help?” Yoshikuni asked when she saw him winced quite a few times because of his bad arm.

“Yes.  Thank you.  Please, I need iodine for each bag,” he instructed.

Yoshikuni quickly searched for bottles of iodine in the store.  Junhyung also got into the store to get nine sleeping bags.  Then, they attached those things in the backpacks.  While they were doing that, they heard the sound of boxes being dragged down the stairs.  They landed with a few loud thuds.

“There you go.  All the canned foods are here,” Doojoon said, “Also we brought the potatoes and instant noodles as well, just in case.”

“Brilliant,” Junhyung said and grabbed the box.  However, the strenuous effort had done a good job in aggravating his wound.  He winced and cursed loudly.

“Maybe you should be on bed too,” Yoshikuni scolded.

“Maybe you should give me more painkillers,” Junhyung suggested, with a very sarcastic tone.  He didn’t stop doing his work though.  He loaded Sierra’s packs with food.

“Is it necessary that we get going early in the morning?” Yoshikuni asked.

“What do you think, Yoshikuni?  They had known we are here since Gikwang and Hyunseung first reached us.  That was two weeks ago.  They must have relay the intelligence a week ago.  Don’t you think that by now they are already on their way here?” Junhyung asked.  Yoshikuni shrugged and continued her work.

“What do we have to do?” Yoseob asked.

“Go to bed, both of you,” Junhyung instructed.  Doojoon and Yoseob both had their anger rose to a new point.

“That’s it?” Doojoon asked incredulously, clearly was annoyed with the whole situation that was going on in the room.

“Trust me, you want to sleep well before we begin our journey tomorrow,” Junhyung answered without looking at them.  He was still busy loading backpacks with food.

“No.  You drag us into a meeting, and then make us take all the food in the kitchen and now you get to make us sleep.  It doesn’t work that way, no.  We don’t have to always listen to you, you know?” Yoseob retorted.

“Especially now that you have betrayed one of us,” Doojoon shrugged.

That caught Junhyung’s attention.  He stopped what he was doing and looked at them.  Yoseob and Doojoon were clearly angry with him.  Yoshikuni did not back him up either.  Junhyung was really hurt inside but hid it well enough.

“Fine.  Fill the bags with food, except the ones belonged to Yoshikuni, Yoseob and Dongwoon.  Also, don’t fill up too many in the women’s backpacks.  We need to go fast.  We cannot have too much weight that we can’t bear,” Junhyung gave them instructions.

Junhyung walked into the store again to get nine water bottles, with build-in filters inside them.  He filled those bottles with water before put them into each bag.  Then, he went in again to get hot pads and lighters for each bag.  Junhyung’s head was full of worst thoughts.  He felt strongly the need to protect the others.  He had failed to protect them once.  He won’t fail again this time.  He will protect them with his life.

“Yoseob, leave the food to Doojoon.  I need you to take one full-set attire from all the men’s rooms.  Yoshikuni, do the same for the women.  Remember to get thicker clothes.  The weather can be extremely cold outside,” he said.

When Yoseob and Yoshikuni came with everyone’s attires, Junhyung had instructed Yoshikuni to put those into their respective backpacks.  Yoseob was ordered to remove all drives from their current desktops and loaded it into his backpack.  Then, he asked Yoshikuni to put all medicine supplies into her own packs.

“What about you?” she asked him.

“What about me what?” he asked back.

“You will need medicine too.  We are separating, right?  Some of the medicine must go into your bag,” she said.

“The most basic ones only,” Junhyung said strictly.

“Maybe we shouldn’t separate at all,” Yoshikuni sighed.

“And what?  They get to catch all of us easily if we are moving together.  I thought I want to separate us into more groups.  But, since only you and I are the soldiers, we have to be responsible for them.  Yoseob, Sierra and Hyunseung will go with me.  I think putting Dongwoon under your protection is the most important.  He will need you.  I am useless for him.  Doojoon will help you with it.  He’s capable enough to do it.  Gikwang will follow you.  And of course, Erika will go where Dongwoon goes,” Junhyung explained the plan again.

“I thought you would want Erika to go with you,” Yoshikuni said mockingly.

Junhyung swallowed.  In this dire situation, he hoped that at least someone would want to stand by his side, but clearly even his own best friend didn’t find him worthy of her support.  So, he just gritted his teeth and continued his work.

“I have no time for this, Yoshikuni,” Junhyung said, quickly putting the last of canned food in his backpacks.

“You shouldn’t do that to Dongwoon,” she went on.

“No.  I shouldn’t.  I am sorry that I totally want this to happen,” Junhyung said sarcastically, “Now, why don’t the three of you go upstairs and get your highly required sleep before we begin our journey tomorrow?”

“Junhyung, I do-”

“No, Yoshikuni.  It’s already twelve thirty.  You need to sleep.  All of you need sleep.  I’ll wake you at six,” he paused and looked at her, “I am going to sleep after this too,” he swallowed again, “Can you at least trust me on this one?”

Hearing that, all three of them felt really guilty.  Junhyung was begging.  They had never seen Junhyung so desperate.  Seeing all the bags already packed up, they walked upstairs.  They admitted that they needed their sleep.  Too much happened in a day and they were spent.  Once their heads touched their pillows, they quickly fell asleep.

Truthfully, Junhyung felt that he could just drop there and sleep.  But, he can’t let his guard down, not in this situation.  So, he used the time to recheck all the backpacks again.

He started with Yoshikuni’s.  All the medical supplies were already in the bag.  Also, some weapons, some essentials and some food.  He weighed the bag in his hand, closing his eyes, imagining Yoshikuni’s physical ability.  Too heavy.  He transferred some full magazines and her hand gun into her inner jacket pocket.  He also took out some of the canned food.  Someone else will need to take that.  He then took Yoseob’s bag and checked the contents.  Computer, batteries, weapons, essentials and food.  It weighed just nice in his hand.  He left it as it was, but took some full magazines and his handgun and put them into his inner jacket pocket.

Dongwoon’s bag cannot be too heavy.  He wasn’t strong enough for heavy labour.  He was not looking all healthy that evening.  So, Junhyung put the priorities on his own medication and took out some of the food and transferred to his bag.  As for weapons, he did it like the others.  They needed the handgun and full magazines in their inner jacket pocket.  So, he checked the other backpacks.  He made sure Sierra and Erika’s bags were lighter than the men’s.  Junhyung weighed them in his hand and divided all the food according to their physical condition so they won’t bear weight more than they were able to.  His own backpack was too heavy for his liking, but he thought that he could cope with it.  After that, he took out nine belts from the store and attached knives to them.  They will need those things.

When he was satisfied with everyone’s packages, he moved on to the GPS device.  Yoshikuni will need one.  So, he set two GPS devices to where they were heading.  He took care of the way himself.  He chose only the small route because he knew the government force must use some kind of vehicles to get to them.  If he chose small route, they won’t be able to reach them.  Junhyung also thought that going on foot would be better because it will be easier for them to hide.

“It is about fifteen kilometres north…then the group will meet again…” he muttered to himself while setting the map, “Then, together move to the nearest military base…another seven kilometres roughly…forty-two degrees east…” there, he set the device.

Next, he had took all their walkie-talkies and set the same frequency for their communication.  They needed to know how each other was doing if they were forced to separate into even smaller groups.

By the time he finished it, it was about five in the morning.  He yawned.  He wanted to sleep, he really did.  But, he didn’t feel good.  Plus, his throbbing arm gave him this uncomfortable feeling and he just couldn’t sleep.  In the end, he propped himself up on a chair and dozed off just for a while.  When the alarm sounded, Junhyung groaned and prepared himself for the day.

+++++

That morning, all of them were still too sleepy to create any row.  The only persons who were ready for the journey were Junhyung and Yoshikuni.  They had monitored the others as they prepared for their escape.  Junhyung had made sure that they had at least three layers of clothes.  The cold autumn wind can be very harsh.

He also inspected their belts, making sure the knives and bottles were properly attached to it.  Extra water bottles (already filled with water thanks to Junhyung) were put at the side of their backpacks.  He also gave them five packets of energy bars each to sustain their journey.

“I’m sorry.  I’m afraid we have to go under food ration for a while,” he said.

“Are we going to leave this place for good?” Gikwang asked.

“There’s ninety-nine percent probability we are not coming back.  So yes,” Junhyung responded.

“What about the cows and the chickens?  And the greenhouse that we had just built?” Gikwang asked again.  He sounded very sad.

“Gikwang, all of us know that this place is just a facility.  It’s not permanent. Don’t get too attached,” Junhyung advised.

“But-”

“I promise I will get us a place to settle down once we are safe,” Junhyung persuaded.  Hyunseung snorted mockingly.  Junhyung tried his best to ignore it.

He proceeded by handing them the hand grenades and told them to use it only when they were really in a ‘life-or-death’ situation.  Junhyung instructed them to use the grenades for escapes, not to attack, because they were really short of it.  Finally, when they were ready with their backpacks on their shoulders, Junhyung handed them the walkie-talkies.

“We need to separate, so that it will be harder for them to trace us.  Some of you have to follow Yoshikuni and some of you will have to follow me,” he explained.

“Dongwoon,” he called, “Are you okay?” Junhyung noticed that Dongwoon had developed a cold and that made him worried.

“I’m fine,” Dongwoon said, but he sounded terribly congested.  His cough had gotten worse and he was building a temperature.  The cold weather will only make him worse, but Junhyung knew their urgencies were to escape.

“You will follow Yoshikuni,” Junhyung instructed and Dongwoon nodded, “Doojoon, Erika and Gikwang will follow Yoshikuni too,” he continued.

Hyunseung snorted again, “Since when you were good enough to let Erika follow Dongwoon?  You weren’t kind enough when you decided to take her from Dongwoon, were you?”

Junhyung breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.  He was exhausted and not to mention he was having a rather nasty headache due to lack of sleep.  He could just burst any moment from now.  Surprisingly though, Gikwang had stood for him.

“Drop it, Hyunseung.  I think it would do all of us good if you could just listen to Junhyung now,” Gikwang scolded.  Hyunseung shrugged.

“Back to business,” Junhyung cleared his throat, “Yoseob, Sierra and Hyunseung will take the route with me,” he stated.

Upon hearing that, Hyunseung boiled.  He looked at Junhyung disgustingly.  Then, he laughed a very mocking laugh.

“My goodness, Junhyung.  You are really shameless.  What on Earth makes you think that I will follow your lead and listen to you?  I can never trust someone like you!” there, he said it.  Junhyung was so flabbergasted.

Finally, Erika couldn’t take it anymore and interfered, “Enough!  Why are you being a jerk towards him?  If there’s anyone to blame, it is supposed to be me!”

“Guys-” Dongwoon tried to say something but was interfered by Hyunseung.

“No, Erika.  You don’t remember, see?  You don’t know you were together with Dongwoon.  But, this idiot-” he pointed at Junhyung “-he knows every detail of your relationship with Dongwoon but still flirts with you.  He’s not worthy of my respect and-”

Hyunseung was silenced when they heard something dropped onto the floor above them.  Junhyung and Yoshikuni quickly registered that sound.  It was something they were really familiar with.  Junhyung immediately pulled Dongwoon with him and shouted, “Duck!”

Junhyung cursed.  He knew they were too late.  They should have run away sooner.  Now, they had people on their trail.  His thoughts shattered when the floor above them collapsed.  Luckily, they avoided the rubbles just in time.  However, they were now exposed to whatever above them.  Junhyung saw rifles pointed at them albeit not clearly through the haze.  He heard Yoshikuni screamed, “Run!” and saw she threw something to the floor above.  A hand grenade.

Junhyung quickly grabbed anybody he could reach in the hazy remnants of the explosion and pulled whoever that is with him, running as quickly as he could.  Suddenly, he felt someone grabbed his jacket from the back.  He first thought it was the enemy but his logic told him that the enemy will just shoot him.  That must be someone who wanted to follow him.  So, he took them with him as fast as he could, escape to another building that they could find.  He gave the house that had provided him shelter for a year one last look, and noticed that it was Erika who followed him.  She looked so scared and traumatic.  Then, he noticed that the person he had pulled with him was Dongwoon.  He seems to have breathing difficulty.  Junhyung quickly find another hiding and assessed Dongwoon’s condition.

“Damn it,” Junhyung pulled his walkie-talkie while he propped Dongwoon onto a wall, “Yoshikuni!” he called.

It took a few seconds until Yoshikuni answered back.  Yoshikuni sounded out of breath.

“Yoshikuni, Dongwoon is having respiratory arrest,” Junhyung only explained that and Yoshikuni quickly told him what to do.  Luckily, Erika was fast to handle the situation.  She rummaged Dongwoon’s backpack and followed every step that Yoshikuni told them to do.  When, Dongwoon was finally breathing properly again, Junhyung asked about the others.

“I have only Dongwoon and Erika with me.  Are the others with you?” Junhyung gritted his teeth, afraid of hearing of anyone missing.

“Everybody else is with me.  Nobody is injured here,” Yoshikuni informed.

“Thank God.  Yoshikuni, just follow the route on the GPS device.  According to my calculation, we should be able to meet again tomorrow,” Junhyung said.

“Copy that,” Yoshikuni said and she ended the conversation.  Junhyung quickly got back to Dongwoon.

“How’s he?” he asked Erika.

“He’s okay now, I think,” she answered.

Junhyung crouched in front of Dongwoon and looked at him.  Even in the cold autumn, Junhyung could see beads of sweat on Dongwoon’s forehead.

“Dongwoon,” Junhyung called gently.  He put his palm on Dongwoon’s forehead and automatically disliked the high temperature.  His cold had turned to a raging fever.

“Yes?” Dongwoon opened his eyes.  They were hazy and Junhyung was afraid if Dongwoon can’t focus on their journey.

“We can’t stay here.  They’ll find us.  We need to keep going,” Junhyung said.  Dongwoon nodded and he stood up, swaying.  Junhyung caught him before he fell.

“Erika, this might be hard for you, but I need you to carry Dongwoon’s bag.  It’s not that heavy,” Junhyung said.

Erika nodded and quickly put that backpacks on her shoulders, the bag in front of her.  It was quite a burden for her to carry two bags but she can’t make Junhyung carry two bags and Dongwoon at the same time.

Junhyung changed the position of his backpack to the front as well.  He decided to carry Dongwoon on his back.  His arm screamed silently, wanted the rest it should get but Junhyung dismissed the pain and focused on the route they had to take.

“Erika, I’m quite shorthanded here.  You get ready with your rifle.  If there’s any movement, and you’re positive it is our enemy, just shoot ,okay?  Or just throw the grenade.  That will do for now,” Junhyung instructed.  Erika nodded again and she held the rifle tightly.  They started walking, very silently and sneakily.

Erika didn’t tell Junhyung that another memory had just stirred again.  She remembered now why she had forgotten everything.  She contemplated on telling him but then she heard Dongwoon’s weak voice.

“Junhyung…” he whispered.  Junhyung was surprised.

“Yes, Dongwoon.  What is it?” Junhyung hoped that Dongwoon wasn’t having any discomfort.

“Thanks…” he mumbled.  Junhyung was taken aback by that.  He thought Dongwoon would hate him.

“No problem,” Junhyung could feel the awkwardness in the situation.

“I don’t blame you,” Dongwoon said, “I’m sorry that this must happen to you.”

For a moment, Junhyung didn’t say anything.  He just kept walking.  Erika had to steal a look at him to see if he was still paying attention.  But, she saw tears in his eyes.

“I’m very sorry too, Dongwoon,” Junhyung said and that moment, Erika knew that their feelings were mutual.