At the cold wind’s touch, the sound of your laughter

And your eyes where I was mirrored

Come back to me

-Baek Ji Young: Don’t Forget-

Erika knew it.  When she first stepped into this place, she knew it must formerly be a big mansion in the countryside, belonged to a rich family.  It was big, on a land full of green trees.  It was like she was in another world, where there were no debris and soot and human skeletons and stray cats and dogs.  It was a small world but was full of food and fresh water.  But, yesterday was too shocking for her to even enjoy the luxury she had never seen for so long.  Yesterday was a new beginning of her broken world, where now it was less broken.

The mansion or base office as they called it was neatly organized.  It was double-storeyed and had a basement and there were many rooms.  They made one into an emergency room, perfected with medicines and nursing tools.  Just next to it was the ward with three beds, one was currently occupied by her.  The next two rooms in the same hallway were bedrooms.  Yoshikuni explained that one was shared between Doojoon and her while the other one was occupied by Yoseob and Sierra.  They turned left at the end of the hallway and there were more rooms.  They made two into bedrooms, each was belonged to Junhyung and Dongwoon.  Sierra said that the rest of the rooms were still undecided.

They went downstairs and there was the kitchen and dining room and also the living room.  The living room did not look like a welcoming living room though.  There was a huge counter full with bag packs and the next to it was the shoes’ cabinet.  The next to the huge door were bicycles and she could never take her eyes off them.  The living room was not a place with couch, portraits and candelabra like she had imagined.  But, she just shrugged the thought off and followed the others to the next place on the ground floor.  There were rooms but there were made into storerooms; meds supply, food supply, etc. accordingly.

She trailed them further down to the basement.  What she saw was surprising.  There were three computers next to each other, with one keypad.  Also, there were other laptops and a lot of walkie-talkies.  They showed her another section in the basement which was the real lounge.  There was a TV and a Blu-ray player and a cabinet full of Blu-ray disks.  Doojoon said there’s no channel available so all they did was watching the movies they liked, again and again.  The movies were all pre-war but Sierra said it was amazing because it showed what happened post-war, as if human beings already predicted this would happen and made it into movies.

Erika smiled.  Her memory in college, from year 2024 when she was a freshman until she graduated in 2028 was full of these things.  Movies, computers, laptops and other cool gadgets which were smart but made the human beings dumb.

They moved to the other place where it looked like a gym.  It was not that much, but there were skipping ropes, dumbbells and treadmills.  Yoseob excitedly said that the treadmills generated energy by itself when someone runs on it.  He loved that equipment the most because it did not rely on other sources of energy which were exhausted and hardly available.

“So, after I recovered from this injury, will you guys chase me out?” Erika asked suddenly, as they walked upstairs back to the ground floor.  Dongwoon looked pretty shocked by the question.

“Chase you out?  Why would us?  You belong here, okay.  And it’s not like there’s life out there.  We won’t be that dumb to kick you out to a place where there’s nothing to survive on,” he said.

Sierra smiled to his answer.  Seeing that, Erika smiled too.  She had not seen anybody smiled for so long.  Well, Dongwoon smiled to her when they first met and Yoseob also smiled to her a lot when she was treated, but those smiles hid something else.  They were not the sincere smile Sierra displayed right now.  In fact, all of them showed that smile today, the smile that did not look retarded.  The smile that was contagious that made Erika wanted to smile too, although she felt kind of hard to do that after so long her cheeks were hardened due to lack of emotion.

“Just asking, because it would be a burden for you guys to share your food supply with another person,” she shrugged.

“You think we have limited food supply?” Yoshikuni asked.  Sierra nodded.

“We have more than enough food for all of us,” Junhyung said.

“Let’s go to the garage,” Doojoon continued.

So, the next stop was the garage.  She imagined it was full of cars, but the moment she entered the garage, it was not reeked gasoline odour or mechanic tools.  The big garage had been modified into a huge cattle shed.  There were cows and goats and chickens and more chickens.  She could see chicken eggs stacked at one corner.  Her jaw hung open, still choosing the right words to describe the life she just got herself into.  In this time of post-war, this could be considered a luxury.

“You…those can’t be the real cattle and chicken,” she looked at them.

“They are real.  We only have us here and to survive, we sort of become farmers ourselves,” Junhyung laughed.

A laughed, another luxury she considered she had lost for quite a while.  Now, as if she was given everything again, she got herself family, friends, food, water, smiles, laughter, jokes etc.  In her memory, it was as if money was everything a person could have.  But, she realized these were the things that should be included in a survival pack.

“Now, let’s get this done with the backyard,” Yoseob said and he pulled Sierra together with him.  The others started to follow their trail.  Dongwoon smiled and gestured her to continue.

In the backyard, there was a pond, not too big but not too small either.  As she got nearer to it, she could see fishes swimming together in the water.

“Those are tilapia and catfish,” Dongwoon told her.

“Are you kidding me?!” Erika was shocked.

On this wrecked land, where there was no sign of life, there was a small place for a living.  Although it was a small place and provided shelter to just the six of them, well, seven now including her, it was the most luxurious place she had ever seen for quite sometimes.  It was like her faith in life itself was restored.  There were still living humans who managed to survive and those were smart enough to think of the simple idea of making their own food resources.

“You see, Erika?  Those are apple trees,” Doojoon pointed to another end of the backyard.

Yes, she could see apple trees.  There were like five of them.  But, that’s not only it.  The yard, in between the apple trees and the pond, was full of vegetable crops.  She could see tomato and lettuce.

“Those are tomato and lettuce?” Erika asked, just to make sure her eyes didn’t play trick on her.

“Lettuce, yes, and pomato,” Sierra provided.

“Pomato?” Erika had asked.

“When the Oil War broke, we, human don’t have enough food supply anymore.  Scientists are forced to think of a way to solve the problem, since we are now running out of soil as well.  A smart lad just came up with this idea, pomato.  The seeds are genetically modified so that they grow up into tomato trees with potato roots,” Yoshikuni said.

“How long ago was the war?” Erika asked.

“A year and three months ago in the Middle-East.  Three month later, the first war broke in the US,” Doojoon shrugged.

“It lasted only for a month here before the Oil War ended.  The entire world was broken.  But still, the political leaders are living luxuriously, although it was them who started it,” Junhyung sighed.

“Wait.  You mean there are more humans who survived?  Apart from us?” Erika asked.

“Of course, Erika.  Where do you think we got the high-tech genetically modified pomato?  We stole it from them,” Yoseob said.  Erika was dumbfounded.

“Why did you steal from them?  Why don’t you guys join the other surviving humans and live with them?  Why do you need to be here by yourselves?” Erika shot them with questions.

“Erika, you might forget a lot of things.  We can’t help you to remember yourself, but we could tell you what really happened, but I think it is already too much for you today.  For now, all you need to know is that there are many humans surviving in the north, with the government controlling them.  There are people on the wanted list, to be murdered or punished or whatever,” Yoshikuni explained.

“And those people Erika, could be me, could be us, could be you,” Junhyung continued.

“So, you guys decided to stay here, on this wrecked land?” Erika asked them again.

“It’s the best choice.  Nobody would come and search for people in the wrecked land.  They think there’s no life here.  Everybody’s killed.  No survivor.  But, we secretly surviving here, build a new life,” Dongwoon said.

“Alright.  Fine.  I will not ask what actually happened but I’m still curious of how you get the pomato seeds if you say it is dangerous to get to north, where the government has full control,” said Erika, the always curious one.

“We have Junhyung.  He’s always the best in stealing stuff without getting caught,” Doojoon said.

Erika looked at Junhyung who was playing with his hair.  Junhyung stopped and looked at her when he noticed her stare.

“You can always trust me in…stealing,” Junhyung awkwardly replied.  Erika nodded.  The others started to feel more or less a little awkward with the conversation.  So, Dongwoon decided to stop that.

“I think it is about time for us to get on with our jobs,” said Dongwoon while rubbing his palms together.

The others nodded, agreeing that they needed to get the important tasks done.  They started to walk back into the huge mansion, leaving Erika to enjoy the luxury she just found.  But, they forgot that she’s the Erika, always the curious one.

“Excuse me?” she shouted and they stopped on their tracks, “What job are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, yeah.  We forget to tell you this.  Maybe it seems like this is now a jobless world, but here, we have commitments.  That’s how we started all these.  Someone has to find the fresh water and build the pipe.  Someone has to find the soil, food and even meds supply.  Someone has to find out the energy sources.  Someone has to monitor the safety,” Yoshikuni explained.  Erika looked at all of them who seemed to know their own jobs.

“I am part of this now.  Why don’t I get any job?” Erika asked.  Dongwoon laughed a small laugh, nothing sounded insulting, just his mere expression of ‘are you kidding me?’.

“You just came yesterday, Erika.  And your injury needs time to recover.  You need time to recover from fatigue, malnourishment.  We will definitely get you something to do when you are ready to be up and about,” Dongwoon gently answered the question.  Since yesterday, he was the one talking to her in a really sincere tone.  He sounded like he had known her forever.

“Yes, Dongwoon is right,” Sierra said, tone sarcastic and her eyes rolled at Dongwoon, “When Yoshikuni says you are ready, we will definitely give you a job.  We don’t ask a person not fully recovered to work.”

All of them looked at Dongwoon and laughed.  It was like some sort of joke, what Dongwoon just said.  Dongwoon gave them a stare and shrugged.

“I need to see if they installed the pump right,” Dongwoon sounded defensive, although Erika still don’t know why.

The sun was shining brightly above them, telling them it was noon.  Erika didn’t want to stay under the hot sun and got dehydrated again.  Now that she was in a comfort zone, she found her memory on her difficult journey traumatizing.  She never wanted to go through that again.  She followed them into the mansion, to the living room.

She just looked at them getting ready.  They did the same thing, as though they had practiced it for umpteenth times.  Dongwoon took two bottles of water, a baked potato and an apple and secure it nicely into his bag packs.  The others did the same.  Yoshikuni took a rifle and make sure it was loaded and then swung it to her shoulder.  The others did the same.  Doojoon checked the bicycles, making sure the tires and brakes were fine.  The others did the same.  Sierra took a walkie-talkie and adjusted the radio frequency.  The others did the same.

“Upsilon, from Gamma.  Frequency check,” Sierra talked to it and at the same time, the walkie-talkie in Junhyung’s hand crackled.

“Gamma, you’re good,” Junhyung said.

“Upsilon, from Alpha.  Frequency check,” Yoshikuni checked her walkie-talkie.

“Alpha, always good,” Junhyung said after he received the message.

“Upsilon, from Beta.  Frequency check,” Doojoon’s voice came out clear.

“Beta, you’re good to go,” again, Junhyung gave his approval.

“Upsilon, from Omicron.  Frequency check,” Dongwoon was the last one to check his walkie-talkie.

“Omicron, you’re good.  Stay close to Alpha.  I can tolerate only 5 meter radius,” Junhyung said, tone very strict.  Erika watched them, dumbfounded.  They went serious when they were going out.

“5 meter radius?  You can’t be serious,” Dongwoon looked at Yoshikuni pleadingly.  Yoshikuni gave a signal to Junhyung with her eyes.

“Alright.  20 meter radius.  That’s it.  No more than that,” Junhyung said.

“That’s better,” Dongwoon said while making the last inspection on his bike.

“Don’t forget to try the walkie-talkie again with the main headphone,” Yoseob reminded them, “I’ll be in the office shortly.”

“Don’t worry, baby.  We’ll get to you,” Sierra said before she gave one compassionate hug to Yoseob.  He kissed her on the cheek right after.

“Be careful,” Yoseob said to Sierra and he nodded to the others, signalling the same thing.

Erika smiled.  She might be new to the group but she was not slow.  She saw everything.  Without asking, she could tell there’s something between Yoseob and Sierra.  That was the obvious one.  Also, she could tell there’s something affectionate going on between Yoshikuni and Doojoon.  She knew it when Doojoon helped Yoshikuni to treat her yesterday.  The way they talked and looked at each other, it was not hard to tell, although they were not making it as obvious as Sierra and Yoseob.

Erika loved that.  Love was something gone when she woke up a year ago.  It was death everywhere.  She couldn’t find love anywhere.  To think that there was still love going on this destroyed land was something amazing.  She would pay for that.  That was the biggest luxury so far.  Suddenly, she felt part of her was missing.  She shook her head.  They were gone for their jobs, so, Junhyung closed the main door.  Yoseob was already nowhere to be seen.  Perhaps he already went to the basement, to get the communication checked again with the base computer.

“Is it always like this, when they go out, when you go out?  Like so official and deadly serious, like you guys go for a…war?” Erika asked Junhyung.  He smiled at her.

“It is always war out there.  You don’t know if your enemy is there.  It is post-war but people could still be hiding in the wrecked of a town.  Plus, if the government and its cronies find us, we could be caught or killed.  I mean, who knows,” he shrugged.

“But, what are they doing out there again?” Erika asked.  Junhyung was friendly.  He didn’t look annoyed at all when she asked him a lot of questions.

“Yesterday, Doojoon, Sierra and I installed a pump at the clean freshwater aquifer about 3 kilometres from here.  So, today Dongwoon is going there to see if we had installed it correctly,” Junhyung said, carefully going down the stairs.  Both of them could here Yoseob communicating through the headphones, probably checking the communication tools again.

“Why Dongwoon?”

“Oh, you don’t know.  That guy is a smart one.  He’s the mechanical engineer.  He modified the pump from a broken one and it is now as good as new,” Junhyung said, “How is it, comp whiz?” he asked Yoseob.

“Everything is fine, optimum security level,” replied Yoseob while looking at four tiny dots on the computer screen.  Erika wondered how they got all these tools.

“How do you guys actually begin all these?  I mean, the mansion, the food, the energy supplies, meds, tech, all these?  And how do you guys started?  I mean, who found who first?” again, Erika bombarded them with questions.

Yoseob looked at Junhyung, who was smiling.  He pulled a chair and signalled her to sit.  She sat down and he sat on another chair.  Yoseob waited for Junhyung while eyes kept looking onto the screen and ears stayed alert for any incoming call.

“It was me with Yoshikuni first,” Junhyung said, “We were in the army before, playing hero, trying to save people.  Yoshikuni was a doctor in the army, ranked as Captain.  I was the Major.”

“Now I know where you get that stealing skill and the supplies of meds and tech.  You know where to break in,” Erika muttered in between.  Yoseob chuckled to that.  Junhyung slapped Yoseob’s back.

“You still have it Erika.  That brain of yours is still working well,” Junhyung said.  Erika was quite confused of that statement but she took it that Junhyung was trying to say that although she forgot a lot of things, she still remember army’s work.

“Who’s next?” Erika asked, getting absorbed into the story.

“Dongwoon,” Junhyung said.

“How do you find him?”

“During the war, Dongwoon’s work place was bombed.  Yoshikuni and I were soldiers, playing hero.  We were sent to that place, found him there, like a bag of broken bones.  It was horrible.  Broken ribs, injured backbone, broken neck, stretched spine not to mention loss of blood.  He was basically dying,” said Junhyung.

“That bad?” she asked.

“As I say, horrible.  Yoshikuni did all she could in saving him.  While he was still in coma, we ran away.  We found a place safe enough for us to stay for a while.  That was when we found Doojoon, two months later,” Junhyung said.

“So, you didn’t find this place at first?” Erika asked.

“No.  Doojoon told us that it was impossible to stay at that place.  There’s no possible source of clean water, which is essential especially for Dongwoon’s survival.  So, we moved again and found this place.  Yoseob and Sierra came three months later with minor injuries, luckily,” Yoseob said.

“We protected each other,” Yoseob provided.

“You don’t need to say that, Yoseob.  We knew it,” Junhyung rolled his eyes.

“Then, it’s me now,” Erika continued.

“Believe it or not Erika, you are our best survivor for now.  One year, surviving alone by yourself.   I could just die,” Yoseob said.  Erika felt proud of herself.  She smiled a triumphant smile.

“But, you guys sound like you were running away from something.  Like someone’s after you guys,” Erika’s brows knitted.

“Well…it’s a long story.  But, all you need to know for now Erika, is that Dongwoon was one of their targets.  His work place wasn’t bombed accidentally, it was on purpose.  Doojoon, Yoseob and Sierra were the targets too, but they escaped after they heard what happened to Dongwoon,” Junhyung explained.

“You guys know each other, I mean even before all these happened?” Erika asked again.

Junhyung and Yoseob looked at each other.  Their expression darkened.  Junhyung sighed so Yoseob took it that he had to answer that question.

“Of course, Erika.  ‘We’ know each other.  ‘We’ are friends since before war.”

Listening to: Beast's Breath and Big Bang's Fantastic Baby Mash-Up

Mood: Lazy