The young boy merely stared at the performer in front of him. The lady on stage was excessively beautiful, her eyelashes long and thick, almond shapes eyes, slightly blushed cheeks and plump lips. Even as a young 7-year-old, Yeonwoo could see the woman performing in front of him, albeit far from him was the epitome of beautiful. To top it all, she had a striking presence that captivated all that watched her.
However, young Yeonwoo wasn't merely captivated by her face, he was even more entranced because of her dance and the story she was telling.
Dance and music have always been an inherent part of human culture, music told tales and dance told actions that corresponded to the music but a boy as young as Yeonwoo could never really see the story being told by dance. The dances he had seen before we are entertaining but not poetic. This was his first time seeing someone actually weaving a story as they gracefully danced fearlessly in front of this huge crowd.
From what Yeonwoo could tell, it seemed like the dance started off with a carefree child living life without really thinking too deep about the meaning of it. This child found happiness in the must mundane things such as plucking flowers or watching ants, the dance then transitioned into a stage where the child had grown older but as the background lights dimmed Yeonwoo could tell the child, who was now a young woman, no longer lived a carefree life. Instead, she seemed consumed by fear and terror, as if she knew something she wasn't supposed to know.
Yeonwoo watched in rapt attention as the dancer seemed to reach the finale of her performance. The lights were now entirely focused only on her, the background still dim and gloomy but her expression was different. Instead of fear, she had a more confident and daring look on her face. As her arms moved around, dancing, she finally rested them behind her back and looked up.
Yeonwoo felt a chill go down him spine. The dancer was staring a particular spot in the distance, her expression filled with boldness. As the music slowly faded away, the dancer broke out into a smile, a pitiful smile, a smile that almost seemed at odds with her beautiful face.
Seconds later, a gunshot resonated across the streets. Yeonwoo's dad immediately grabbed him hand in panic and started to run along with the screaming crowd. As Yeonwoo felt himself being dragged further and further away, he looked back at the dancer. She still sat there in the same position with the same smile on her face. Except this time it seemed like her heart was also bleeding.
And that was just the beginning of when the world began to fall apart.
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Yeonwoo wouldn't really call himself the leader of this current group since it felt improper considering of most of the group consisted of people who older than him. Yeonwoo, Hyuk and Reno were the only one in their twenties, the young girl he had brought in was in her teens, there were two other boys around ten to eleven years of age and then there was the baby of the group, Ming-hae. Other that than almost everyone was above their 30's. So, it felt improper for Yeonwoo to "lead" over these people. He thought being a "caretaker" would be a better term but immediately scraped that idea when he realized how that sounded equally bad. He decided that there was no need for a leader or anything, Yeonwoo just happened to be capable and also young.
But nonetheless, he still bore the responsibility for these people. It might not be said or acknowledged out aloud but everyone in that group, except for Yeonwoo, pretty much considered him to be the leader.
After two days of scouring for rations, Yeonwoo was tired, so he had decided to take to quick nap to get rid of his tiredness. It had barely been an hour when Yeonwoo felt himself lose his sleep in an instant. It was as if he had suddenly remembered something in his sleep.
Yeonwoo looked outside the window. Even though the buildings around were all abandoned and dusty, he always felt like the sunset was the only good view they ever got to see.
But Yeonwoo didn't wake up from his nap to view the scenery. He had more pressing matters. Quietly and inconspicuously, so as to not alert any of the other people of his uneasiness, Yeonwoo walked to wear Hyuk who was sitting, arms crossed, dozing off, hugging the precious bottle of alcohol he had managed to salvage while he had snuck out.
Yeonwoo lightly tapped his shoulder. "Hyuk." He said, softly.
Hyuk groaned, immediately waking up. Considering the unsafe environments they all lived in, no one here really had the leisure of going into a nice, deep slumber. In fact, one way or the other, it seemed as if they were naturally trained to wake up from even the slightest of noises.
Hyuk yawned and rubbed one of his eyes, still sleepy. "Hmm, what's up?"
"Where's Reno?"
At the mention of his friend, Hyuk immediately got up, alert. It seemed as if all his sleepiness had vanished away. He instinctively glanced at the window. He felt his heart sink as sun had almost set.
Hyuk looked at Yeonwoo, panicked. "Reno didn't come back yet?"
Yeonwoo shook his head. "No. Didn't you mention that you both always come back before sunset?"
Hyuk nodded. "All these days we've always made it back before sunset. We aren't brave like you to go out at night."
Yeonwoo pointedly ignored the 'we aren't brave like you' part. He wasn't particularly brave. In fact, going out terrifies him. But if he didn't, then who would?
Yeonwoo rubbed his forehead. "You guys could've just told me if you wanted something in particular. You have any idea how reckless this?"
The look of terror on Hyuk's face grew. The three of them were not childhood friends neither did they know each other from before. They just happened to find the same hiding spot and naturally ended up in the same group. It was just that the three men were about the same age and hence it became pretty easy to become friendly with each other. And considering how their everyday routine consisted of either lazing around in their hiding spot or watching out for intruders, the three of them seemed to have found some sort of solace in each other.
Yeonwoo looked around as the people in his group began lighting up some burner lamps. Obviously not a lot, they didn't want to attract others and run out of light but just enough to make out who is who. It had indeed gotten dark.
It wasn't like there were wild beasts or nasty creatures that roamed the streets when the lights were out. In fact, from what Yeonwoo knew practically no one stepped out at night. Activity from other groups and even the Liziers were scarce at night.
The streets at the night were pitch black and the only source of light other than the moon was the shining imperial city in the far, far distance. With the abandoned streets having no light, anyone who ventured out at night was extremely vulnerable.
Yeonwoo was lucky enough to have found a torch a while ago. However, he had no idea how old the torch was or how long its batteries would last, so he only used it in emergency situations. If he was out searching for rations, he'd always stop his search right before sunset and find a good hiding spot for the night.
Yeonwoo sighed. "I'll go search for him."
Hyuk's eyes widened in fear. "It's too dark outside!"
"Then what am I supposed to do? Just let him be? Leave him all alone in the dark? Reno will not be able to handle it!"
If Yeonwoo was being honest, he wanted to blame Hyuk for his stupid idea of alcohol and porn magazines but Hyuk already looked scared beyond his wits and there was no use adding fuel to fire.
Yeonwoo walked towards his backpack. He stared at it for a split second before picking it up. He internally sighed. He had just come back today and ideally since he managed to bag a good amount of ration wouldn't have had to use this rugged backup for the next few days.
Yeonwoo shook his head. There was no need for such a useless thought. Tired or not, he had to go find Reno.
Yeonwoo walked towards the door when one of the other members stopped him. "Yeonwoo? Why are you setting out now?"
Yeonwoo looked past the man who asked him the question and stared straight at Hyuk. "Reno is missing. Hyuk will take care of things when I'm back."
Yeonwoo wanted to add the fact that he'll be back soon but for some reason, he himself wasn't too sure about that.
With that said, Yeonwoo stepped out with only his backpack which had some rations, his precious torchlight, and a towel.
"Reno, please be safe." Mumbled Yeonwoo under his breath as he set off.
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Yeonwoo had no idea where he should begin his search from. According to Hyuk, the both of them had split up ways right after leaving the building with Hyuk taking a left and Reno taking the right.
Yeonwoo looked the right. It was pitch dark to and all he could see was an endless lane of darkness. He gulped, he hadn't been to right side a lot since most of the Liziers seemed to live on the left side, closer to the imperial city. From Yeonwoo's years of ration hunting experience it seemed like the right side had the rest of these vagabond groups. And if it wasn't obvious, they weren't the friendliest to outsiders.
But people like Hyuk and Reno didn't know about this. If Yeonwoo was being honest, he never felt the need to tell them that there were more groups hiding around. Of course, they all knew they weren't the only ones trying their hardest to survive in this world but sometimes oblivion is a blessing.
Yeonwoo shook his head as he slowly made his way down the limitless dark alley. He just couldn't shake off this feeling of uneasiness. His mind was subconsciously sending him warning signals, like there was something here that was way out of his control. Or maybe there was someone.
Yeonwoo had been walking for a little over half an hour. He had no idea what the exact time, he had no way of knowing. He did find a watch long time back on one of his trips but much to his dismay it's battery had stopped working. So, now Yeonwoo simply had dawn, morning, afternoon, evening, night as his "times".
He dug in hand in his backpack and after somewhat making out the silhouette of his water bottle, he picked it out and his bag and was just about to take a sip when he heard the most bone chilling shriek.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
The night was so quiet so the scream felt even louder than it probably was. It seemed to coming from the direction in front of him. Yeonwoo subconsciously glanced behind him, towards the direction of his hiding spot. While a part of him was glad it wasn't from that direction, he could feel the goosebumps on his skin. After all, didn't Reno go in this direction?
Yeonwoo gulped. He hesitated to take a step forward. He hadn't even know Reno for that long. God knows what kind of dangers lay out there. Yeonwoo had good survival skills, that's how he had survived so far. Taking care of the people back there was something he was capable of doing, hence he did it and plus, it wasn't really life-threatening so he didn't mind. But now, this could very much be the possibility of life and death.
But what would he tell everyone when he got back? He chickened out and left Reno? He never found Reno?
The guilty conscience would kill Yeonwoo before anything else. Yeonwoo shook his head. He wasn't willing to risk his life for Reno, but it wouldn't hurt to check. And he wasn't even sure whether the scream was from Reno.
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It took Yeonwoo only another 15 minutes of walking when he began to able to make out his surroundings clearly than just human night vision.
There was light somewhere around here.
Yeonwoo immediately crouched down in a relatively dark spot, his mind racing. Light? Why would there be light out in the open at this time of the night? Even for Liziers, light was precious, there would never waste it out in the open like this.
Yeonwoo's eyes widened. Unless…
"Is he the only one you found?" said a man. Yeonwoo immediately felt shivers up his spine. The man's tone and voice was pretty neutral but Yeonwoo hadn't heard another person speak for so long. Of course excluding his group members. "He's so loud, jeez."
"Our men are tracing his footsteps as we speak. I'm sure we'll be able to clear out this area soon."
Yeonwoo's heartbeat was quickening. Who was this man they were talking about? Tracing his footsteps? Would they be heading in the direction that Yeonwoo came from? Or would they go in the opposite direction?
"L-le-cough-let me go!"
Yeonwoo's eyes widened. His worst fears came true.
That was Reno.
And the men that were going to "clear up" the area was going in the direction of his hiding spot.
Yeonwoo could feel his breathing quicken as well. Panic was setting in. What should he do? How could he inform the others? Maybe if he ran back in full speed? No, but then these patrolling officers would definitely catch him.
A dreadful thought came across Yeonwoo's panicked thoughts. What if he just hid somewhere around here. It was still night and the light wasn't spread out to the point where he couldn't hid at all.
Before he could come to any conclusion, Yeonwoo looked up to see a man sneering at him. Yeonwoo's face paled. An olive green uniform, with a silver belt and rifle strapped over his shoulder, it was the imperial regime's special force.
"Oh, I found another rat. What a lucky day!"