I woke up with a sudden gasp, inhaling ash and dust off the ground. The debris caused me a coughing fit. Once the fit subsided I just lay on the ground. I didn’t have the energy or the motivation to move even a finger. I don’t know how many hours I lay there for, just breathing in the dust and coughing occasionally. Soon I got sick of the feel of the sun on my back and the rocks poking into my body. Slowly I worked out how to use my arms and legs. Eventually I got up on my feet. Now what? Walking. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Piece by piece it came back to me. I broke into a jog. It felt good to use my muscles. I wanted more. I sped up into a run and then I was sprinting, the ground flying past me on all sides. I had to slow down because of all of the piles of debris everywhere. After climbing one of the higher mountains of trash, I spotted a clearing not too far away. I made for it, and to my delight it was free of garbage and relatively straight. A road. The little voice in my head supplied the information without me having to ask. Eager to get the feeling of running back, I lengthened my strides and quickened my pace until the piles of rubbish and the ground around me were flying past me so rapidly I barely had time to take everything in. Dark shapes loomed up in front of me. Buildings. The little voice informed me. As I got closer, the buildings turned out to be a lot bigger than I had first thought. It’s a city. I didn’t have much time to contemplate my discovery as I saw a small group of people walking around. I stopped running for a minute and just watched them. They didn’t seem as if they would attack me so I walked up to them slowly. I stopped a few metres away and cleared my throat.

“Hello.”

All five of them turned around at once and pointed their guns at me. Out of reflex I held up my hands and waited. One of them - he had a really intense expression - lowered his gun and walked up to me.

“Um. Hello,” I tried again, a little more subdued this time. He said nothing as he walked around me and I kept my hands up until he came around to face me.

“What’s your name?” the one with the intense expression asked me. His voice was rather high and light and didn’t quite match his appearance. I thought for a minute, but the little voice didn’t have an answer for me.

“I-… I don’t- I don’t know… sorry…”

His lips twitched down at my apology and I looked at the ground.

“What are you doing out here?” he tried again.

“I don’t know… I was running before, it felt good, but I don’t know how I got here if that’s what you’re asking… sorry…”

“Stop apologising. You haven’t done anything wrong have you?” His words had a little bit of a bite to them and the other four re-adjusted their grips on their guns.

“No-! No, I don’t think so… I don’t remember anything… sor-”

His glare cut me off and I snapped my mouth shut and stared at my boots, fiddling with my fingers in front of me. When I chanced a peek at him, he seemed deep in thought. The others had relaxed slightly and were joking around quietly.

With an audible sigh, the guy walked over to me, pulling something off his belt.

“Hands out.” His voice was soft but authoritative. Automatically I complied and he put the item which he had taken off his belt on my arms. Handcuffs. I must have pulled a strange face because he started speaking.

“I just want to make sure you don’t cause any trouble…”

I nodded in acceptance, but I could feel my face fall.

“Hey, uh…” one of the others started. “Wait. Leo, what do we call him?” I looked at him. He had very feline eyes and a shaggy, too-long buzz cut.

The one with the intense face - Leo - turned to me. “What do we call you?”

I just shrugged. I didn’t know what my name was or even the kind of person I was so I didn’t say anything.

“We’ll just call you ‘N’ for now… how’s that?” Leo said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“Sure…” I mumbled. “It’s not like I have any reason to say no…”

“Alright.” I turned my attention back to the guy with the strange hair. “Come on N, jump in the car… I’ll sit next to you. Ken, you sit on his other side and Hyuk can man the machine gun.”

As we all got into the car, the one with the strange hair introduced himself as Ravi. The guy with the long nose was Ken. The one with the pretty face and dimples was Hongbin, and the young-looking one was Hyuk. I was silent for the rest of the ride to wherever we were going. I just sat and looked out the window. Leo was silent, while Ravi and Ken were laughing and joking about something. Occasionally Hongbin would interject a comment or two, but mostly he focussed on driving. A few times, Ravi and Ken tried to get me to join the conversation, but each time I just smiled slightly and ducked my head. The handcuffs were uncomfortably tight and I could feel the blood pooling in my hands. I shifted them and tried to get the blood circulating past the steel rings. Ravi noticed and turned to Leo.

“Leo, the handcuffs are too tight. N’s circulation is cut off.”

Leo twisted around and examined the silver metal. My hands had started to swell a little and it was quite painful. He loosened the rings and I could feel the blood rush up my arms. Ken’s voice held a tinge of concern when he spoke.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier N?”

“I didn’t notice until now…”

All four guys looked at me strangely and I ducked my head again. “Thank you,” I mumbled to the floor.