Flowers of Andong [COMPLETED]

15 January 1951

Kiyong POV

The sound of guns going off and their bullets violently ripping through the air was never ending. The ring of missiles and their booming impact made the ground shake. I haven't slept in days and my appetite was almost nonexistent. Within these battle grounds, who had the time to sit down?

I was with a small group of soldiers, stranded in an unknown area. We were hidden in a impact crater just below a grassy field and it was dark outside. Other than the stars, the only lights we saw were the ones coming from missiles flying by.

Nobody moved, in fear we'd be caught, but some of us had whispered conversations. I haven't spoken for days and my voice would've sounded like a croak more than anything. Beside me was my friend, Namjoon. Somehow we ended up together when our divisions were attacked and split off.

Another sound of a missile flung by and landed not to far from us and we felt the ground shake again as we covered our ears.

"We're gonna die out here..." a soldier said.

I believed him, but Namjoon didn't.

"No... No, we're not," he said with his jaw clenched shut to keep a low voice.

"How are we gonna get out of here? It's been days. We've seen others try. If we set one foot out of this circle, we're worm food."

Namjoon looked around us at the scattered bodies of the ROK and the CCF-the Chinese Communist Forces. He swallowed hard and clutched the gun in his hand, then he looked at me.

"Kiyong, you and I were the last to jump into here for safety. Tell me what you saw on the far east side. Were they our soldiers?"

I stared at him and thought carefully back to that moment. From what I remember, we were surrounded by the CCF and the only reason we weren't blown up was because there was an air strike. Judging by the fact that we weren't attacked by the air strike, it must've been one of the CCF planes that was hijacked by the Americans. Now, it was like a no man's land and I assumed the CCF was still surrounding us, waiting for someone to make a run for it so they could shoot us down.

"Kiyong?" Namjoon shook my shoulder and my eyes focused again. "You okay?"

I tightened my jaw. "We're surrounded by the CCF. The only way out is to do what the Americans did."

"And that is...?" I looked to the fallen bodies and gave Namjoon a knowing look. "Don't tell me..."

"Got any better ideas?"

"No, wait. What if it's the ROK surrounding us instead? We'll be dead."

"We'd be dead either way."

I sighed and looked to Namjoon. He shut his eyes and licked his lips, like he was trying his best to concentrate and think of what to do. When he opened his eyes again, he flipped himself onto his stomach and crawled upwards. I quickly reached over and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"I'm just checking something," he said. Only after I saw the look in his eye, I let go of his clothes. He crawled up slowly and peaked above the surface of the crater. Seconds later he came back down, "All I see are blood red flags. Like Kiyong said, we're surrounding by the CCF."

He stared at me and gave a brave smile. I smiled back anxiously.

"Everybody pick a Chinese soldier and get changed," Namjoon ordered, assuming the role of our leader.

I hurried to find a soldier to exchange uniforms with and made sure to collect as much ammo as I could from surrounding bodies. To complete the look, I also switch my dog tag with one of belonging to the CCF. I also made sure to check my pockets for the letters I've written Jisoo. I haven't been able to send anything but I wrote a few things down. There was really only one letter I wanted to send to her but I couldn't find it so I took everything else.